Mission Impossible

 BOOM!

There was dust everywhere. This was his last hand grenade that had exploded taking out two black clad terrorists who had managed to kill all of his platoon members. Events had taken an ugly turn a while back when about 50 more terrorist emerged from the hidden underground tunnel. What was supposed to be a regular combat operation to eliminate the dreaded Lashkar Commander had just become Mission impossible.

 Suddenly, his radio crackled ,"Anyone online? What's your status. Please respond. I repeat , RESPOND." 

He took the radio in his hand and replied in  a hushed voice," We have received heavy casualties. There are lots of them. We have been heavily outnumbered."

He peeped over the small platform under which he was hiding, to see what they were up to. They were about 100 yards out,  searching for any of  army men to see if anyone of them was alive. Their commander Afghani who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people was shouting at his men to complete the search faster.

He knew that if he was caught alive, he would be tortured to such an extent which even Satan would claim as barbaric.

His body parts would be chopped off one by one brutally till he breathed his last. Then his body would be mutilated beyond recognition. Even the imagination of this would bring chills to anyone. 

The voice on the radio was back, "Lieutenant, EVAC is on its way. It will be there in eight minutes ETA . Hold your position and just sit tight. 

OVER"

 He checked his ammo . There was none . There was no way in hell he could wait for eight more minutes. He had taken the decision.

He replied," I'm low on ammo. That bastard Afghani is in plain sight. Conduct the airstrike. 

OVER."

The controlling commander knew what this meant.  He said in a tough voice ," 

NEGATIVE. 

Evac is on its way.  Stay at your position and sit tight. I repeat sit tight.

OVER."

 He replied," This is our only chance. Send a fighter jet. Conduct the air strike now.

OVER."

His thoughts wandered to where all of this has started. They had set this out to eliminate and get back unscathed.  This would have been the revenge of the brutal terrorist attack in Mumbai. 

They had failed.

He had failed,

miserably. 

But some goals are so worthy , it is glorious even to fail. 

He could sense his end was near. But he would not die alone. The revenge would be taken. 

The voice on the radio was now very weak," Please confirm your request."

He took up his radio for the one final time," AFFIRMATIVE ,officer.

Tell my family I love them. Tell them I fought until I could no longer.  It was great working with you Commander. Only regret I'll always have is I have but one life to give for my country. 

OVER AND OUT."

The commander ordered the air strikes. But he could not respond to the radio message. How could he say goodbye to his favourite recruit, the one whom he had so laboriously nurtured. 

Yuvraj found his body hovering around in space. He could hear people crying. Everything he looked at seemed blur. He tried to focus but all he could see were hazy images. He realised this was what afterlife looked like. He had taken a vow to return to his home. Either in uniform or clad in tricolour. 

Suddenly, he could sense someone touching his hands . The voice coming from that direction was sounding very familiar.  

He tried to focus. 

Using all his energy, he listened to words, 

then letters and finally got it,

" Daddy wake up. Please daddy." 

He didn't know how but He managed to weakly clench his daughter's hand before the drowsiness hit him again. 

But before he fell asleep due to weakness , he had heard the  magical words which he would never forget in his entire life, " It's a miracle. He's out of coma."