Scene 1: **"The Glacier Drop"**
*Siachen Glacier, Ceasefire Line. March 1952. -50°C Wind Chill.*
**Agent "Gopal"** (RAW) clawed through blue ice, fingers numb inside leather gloves. His breath crystallized into diamonds in the moonlight. He scraped a hollow beneath a serac, planting a lead-lined canister: *Pakistani artillery positions near Skardu. Grid 34.811, 74.205. Delivery routes marked.*
A shadow moved on the ridge above. **Major Akhtar Hussain** (ISI) watched through snow-goggles, his Lee-Enfield steadied on a rock. *Click.* Safety off.
Gopal sensed it—the prickle on his neck honed in Srinagar's back alleys. He didn't turn. Instead, he pressed a frozen *chapati* into the hollow, a signal for his contact: *Compromised. Abort.*
Hussain lowered his rifle. *Clever bastard.*
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Scene 2: **"The Teahouse Trap"**
*Rawalpindi Bazaar. April 1952. Noon.*
**Professor Malik** (Kao's turned asset) sipped chai, sweat beading under his fez. **Captain Aslam** (ISI) slid into the opposite booth, dropping a sugar cube into his cup.
"You're late, Professor. My men saw you post a letter to Delhi."
Malik stirred his tea, hand steady. "To my niece. Her wedding."
Aslam smiled, sliding a photo across the sticky table: Malik's daughter at Oxford, boarding a bus. "Beautiful girl. Shame if London traffic turned… *fatal*."
Malik's spoon clinked against porcelain. "What do you want?"
"Kao's Kashmir network. Names. Dead drops."
Malik palmed a cyanide capsule. "I need 24 hours."
"12," Aslam countered, rising. "Or your daughter meets the bus."
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Scene 3: **"The Safe House Betrayal"**
*Srinagar Orphanage. Same Night.*
**Fatima** pried a loose floorboard, retrieving Gopal's glacier canister. Sister Teresa crossed herself. "The Pakistani agent, Aslam… he questioned the children today. About *you*."
Fatima froze. "What did they say?"
"Sister Margaret taught them well. 'We see only angels.'"
Footsteps pounded outside. **Indian MPs** kicked in the door. "Fatima Begum? You're accused of espionage!"
Sister Teresa stepped forward. "On whose authority?"
The sergeant showed Nehru's seal. "Direct from Delhi. Professor Malik's confession."
Fatima dropped the canister down a well shaft. *Splash.* "Tell Kao… Gopal is clean."
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Scene 4: **"The Radio Game"**
*Abbottabad Listening Post. May 1952.*
Static hissed through vacuum tubes. **Hussain's technician** adjusted dials. "Sir! Faint Morse on 7.32 MHz—RAW's emergency band!"
Hussain donned headphones. *-.. .. .-.. .-..* (DILL) *... - .-. . . -* (STREET) *--- .--. . -.* (OPEN). "Dill Street Open. Their Srinagar safe house is active."
He grabbed a notepad, scribbling false intel: *Indian 5th Div moving to Kargil via NH1D. Convoy dep 0600, 15 May.*
"Encode this. Transmit on *their* frequency. Let them think they've tapped us."
The technician hesitated. "Sir, if they believe it…"
Hussain lit a cigarette. "Then their convoy walks into an ambush. And Kao bleeds."
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Scene 5: **"The Ambush"**
*Banihal Pass, NH1D. May 15, 1952. 5:45 AM.*
**Gopal** crouched behind rocks, watching the dawn convoy: six trucks, one jeep. His orders: *Verify ISI disinfo.*
*Crack!* A sniper shot blew the jeep's tire. Tribesmen swarmed from ravines.
**Indian Captain** roared: "Ambush! Return fire!"
Gopal saw it—the lead truck carried *rice sacks*, not artillery shells. *False intel. Trap.* He radioed RAW: *"Tiger Trap! Convoy is decoy! Real target is—"*
*THUD!* A bullet tore his shoulder. He rolled, detonating a smoke grenade. Purple fog swallowed the pass.
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Scene 6: **"The Interrogation"**
*ISI Safehouse, Muzaffarabad. Same Day.*
**Hussain** tossed Gopal's bloodied radio onto a table. "Who's 'Tiger'? Kao's mole inside GHQ?"
Gopal spat blood. "Go to hell."
Aslam pressed a red-hot *chula* poker to Gopal's thigh. Flesh sizzled. "The glacier drop. Who received it?"
Gopal screamed, then laughed. "You first, Captain. Who's *your* man in South Block?"
Hussain nodded. Aslam raised the poker—
*BANG!* The door exploded. **RAW Commandos** stormed in, silenced Sterlings spitting.
Gopal lunged for Hussain's throat—
*CRACK!* Aslam's bullet took Gopal through the heart.
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Scene 7: **"The Mole"**
*South Block, Delhi. Midnight.*
**Kao** studied the chessboard. Nehru sat opposite, moving a pawn. "Gopal's dead. Fatima's imprisoned. Was it worth it?"
Kao captured the pawn. "We found the mole, sir." He slid a photo across the board: **Lt. Col. Menon**, Nehru's military secretary, shaking hands with Aslam in Geneva.
Nehru's face drained. "Menon? He served my father!"
Kao placed a listening device—a gift "pen" Menon carried—beside the photo. "He served Pakistan. Fed them Fatima's name. Gopal's location."
Nehru stood, trembling. "Handle it. Quietly."
Kao nodded. "Menon goes hunting in Assam next week. A tragic leopard attack."
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Scene 8: **"The New Front"**
*Karakoram Pass. June 1952.*
**Hussain** met a CIA officer in a blizzard. "Project K2. Your U-2 spy planes need weather data. We need weapons."
The American handed over a map. "Glacier landing sites here, here. Radios disguised as prayer wheels."
Hussain eyed the coordinates—*Indian airbases in Ladakh*. "And if we're caught?"
The American smiled. "Plausible deniability, Major. America sees only… freedom fighters."
Hussain pocketed the map. The Great Game had new players.
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Chapter Closing
**Delhi Morgue:** Kao identified Gopal's body—*Cyanide pill unused. Fought to the end.*
**Muzaffarabad Graveyard:** Hussain buried Aslam, killed by RAW's retreating bullets.
**Jammu Prison:** Fatima scratched a map of the Banihal Pass into her cell wall with a spoon.
The ceasefire line held its silence.
But in the shadows, knives were sharpened.
Missions planned.
Betrayals whispered.
The war without gunfire had begun.
And it would never end.
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