Mumbai was chaos. Always.
But the chaos felt different now. Dangerous. Like the whole city was holding its breath.
Rudra, Maya, and Arjun surveilled Colonel Mehta's office from a café across the street.
Bandra. Upscale. The office building was modern. Secure. Multiple entrances.
"Seven security cameras visible," Arjun noted. "Probably more inside."
"Guards?" Maya asked.
"Two at the entrance. Both armed. Professional posture. Ex-military."
"Mehta's in there," Karan confirmed through their earpieces. "Thermal signature. Top floor. Corner office. He's been there for three hours. Meeting with someone."
"Can you get visual?" Rudra asked.
"Working on it. Their network is isolated. I need physical access to penetrate."
"So we go in," Maya said.
"Not yet," Rudra cautioned. "We observe. We learn patterns. Then we plan."
They watched for four hours. Documenting everyone who entered and exited. Noting shift changes. Security protocols.
Then, at 6 PM, Colonel Mehta emerged.
Tall. Sixty-something. Military bearing even in civilian clothes.
Accompanied by two bodyguards.
He got into a black Mercedes. Drove away.
"Follow?" Arjun asked.
"Karan?" Rudra queried.
"I've got his vehicle tagged. Traffic cameras. He's heading toward... his residence. Malabar Hill."
"Home for the evening," Maya concluded. "Which means the office is less guarded at night."
"Or more guarded with night shift," Rudra countered. "We need intel. Real intel."
His phone buzzed. Message from Anvi.
Bad news. Three survivors went dark. No contact. We think Nexus grabbed them.
Rudra's jaw clenched. It was starting.
How many survivors do we have protected?
Forty-three. Out of three hundred. The rest are either unreachable, don't believe the threat, or already compromised.
Forty-three. Out of three hundred.
The math was devastating.
Keep trying. We're working on stopping APEX at the source.
Be careful. Something feels wrong.
Everyone felt it. The wrongness. The setup.
But what choice did they have?
"Change of plans," Rudra said. "We don't have time for careful observation. We need answers now."
"What's the play?" Maya asked.
"Direct approach. We go in. Find Mehta's office. Access his files. Get evidence and extraction protocols for APEX."
"That's suicide," Arjun said flatly.
"Probably. But it's also the only option."
They prepared. Equipment check. Routes planned. Emergency extractions ready.
At 9 PM, they moved.
The office building had a parking garage. Less monitored than the main entrance.
They entered as late-working professionals. Tired. Unremarkable.
The security guard barely glanced at fake IDs.
They took the elevator to the eighth floor. Mehta's floor.
Empty corridors. Dim lighting. Most offices closed for the night.
Except one. Light visible under the door. Mehta's corner office.
"He's still here," Karan confirmed. "Alone. Working late."
"Perfect," Maya said, picking the lock on a neighboring office. "We wait until he leaves. Then we go in."
They settled into the dark office. Watching through the crack in the door.
At 10:30 PM, Mehta's office door opened.
He emerged. On his phone. Speaking in clipped military tones.
"—confirmed for forty-eight hours. All assets in position. APEX proceeds as planned."
He walked past their hiding spot. Toward the elevator.
They waited until they heard the elevator descend.
"Now," Rudra whispered.
They moved to Mehta's office. Maya picked the lock. They entered.
The office was pristine. Organized. Everything labeled. Filed.
"Too organized," Maya muttered. "Military precision."
Rudra went to the computer. "Karan, I need you to crack this."
"Plug in the drive. I'll handle it remotely."
Rudra inserted a USB drive. Karan's software activated.
Files began copying. Rapidly.
"Five minutes," Karan estimated.
They waited. Tense.
Arjun watched the door. Maya searched physical files. Rudra monitored the download.
Three minutes. Four.
Then: footsteps. In the corridor.
"Someone's coming," Arjun warned.
"Download's not complete," Karan said. "Thirty more seconds."
The footsteps approached. Stopped outside the door.
A keycard swiped.
The door opened.
Colonel Mehta stood there. Not surprised. Not alarmed.
Smiling.
"Right on schedule," he said.
Behind him: six operatives. Armed. Ready.
They'd been expected.
"Don't move," Mehta ordered calmly. "You're surrounded. Outgunned. And frankly, out of options."
Rudra's mind raced. Calculating. Planning.
"Karan?" he sub-vocalized.
"Download complete. Extracting now."
At least they had the files.
"You knew we'd come," Rudra said, buying time.
"Of course. Sierra-4 is quite convincing, isn't she? Former operative. Desperate. Wounded. Offering intelligence."
"She led us here," Maya realized.
"She served her purpose," Mehta confirmed. "As did you. Testing our security. Showing us your methods. Very educational."
"What happens now?" Rudra asked.
"Now? Now you disappear. Three more subjects for APEX. How poetic."
The operatives moved forward. To capture them.
Rudra looked at Maya. At Arjun. Saw the same calculation in their eyes.
Fight or surrender?
"Lights," Rudra said.
Karan understood. Every light in the building went out. Total darkness.
Chaos erupted.
Rudra moved by memory. By instinct. By training.
Disarmed the nearest operative. Struck hard. Precise.
Gunfire. Muzzle flashes. Shouting.
He grabbed Maya's arm. "Exit!"
They ran. Arjun covering. Through the dark corridor.
Behind them: pursuit. Orders. Coordination.
"Stairwell!" Maya directed.
They burst into the emergency stairs. Down. Down. Down.
Operatives following. Gaining.
"Karan, we need an exit!"
"Parking garage. Level B2. I've unlocked the gate. Go!"
They reached the garage. Found their vehicle.
Bullets sparked off concrete. Glass shattered.
But they made it. Engine roaring. Tires screeching.
Out of the garage. Into Mumbai traffic.
"Everyone okay?" Rudra asked, breathing hard.
"Alive," Maya confirmed. "You?"
"Same."
"That was a trap," Arjun said unnecessarily.
"Yes. But we got what we came for." Rudra held up the USB drive. "The files. APEX details. It's all here."
"And Sierra-4?" Maya asked.
"Was working for them the whole time," Rudra confirmed. "Which means everything she told us might be false. Including the forty-eight hour timeline."
His phone rang. Anvi.
"Rudra! The warehouse—it's under attack!"
"What?"
"Armed assault. Multiple operatives. We're pinned down. Sierra-4—she unlocked the doors. She let them in."
The trap wasn't just in Mumbai.
It was everywhere.
"Hold position!" Rudra ordered. "We're coming!"
"You're five hours away!"
"Then hold for five hours!"
He accelerated. Racing through Mumbai streets. Toward the highway.
Behind them: pursuit vehicles. Nexus wasn't letting them go.
"This is it," Maya said. "The endgame. They're moving on all fronts."
"Then we counter on all fronts," Rudra replied. "Karan, what's in those files?"
"Analyzing now. Give me... oh no."
"What?"
"APEX isn't forty-eight hours. It's not even twenty-four hours."
"How long?"
"Six hours. They're executing at dawn. Simultaneous strikes on all known survivor locations."
Six hours.
To save everyone.
To stop everything.
To win or lose it all.
"Karan, send the APEX files to every survivor. Every contact. Every authority we have."
"Doing it now."
"Anvi, hold the warehouse. Do not let them take anyone."
"We'll try."
"Don't try. Do it."
Rudra pushed the vehicle faster. Breaking every speed limit.
Five hours to Delhi.
Six hours until APEX.
The math was brutal.
But they'd faced brutal before.
And survived.
One more time.
Just one more time.