"Under no circumstances should he escape." "Yes sir." The whole team replied to the commander strongly in unison.

And we won't let that happen too. We have waited for so many months to catch this man. We can't afford to let him run away.

"And under no circumstances should Zahra die. I want him caught, and I want him alive. Dismissed. Get him to me." We were out the very next moment.

"All these months of planning and finally we got one track that will take us to him. We can't afford to screw this one. Don't ask me to lead. You take charge." I told Neil, requested him rather.

All missions in past three years were led by me courtesy Neil who was the second in command. By now I have got the confidence to lead these men and keep them safe. But I didn't want to risk this mission at any cost. Commander, Neil and other secret Agents have worked their asses off for nearly an year to finally track Zahra down. If anyone deserves to lead the team and throw him at Commander's feet, it's him.

"Wasn't planning to." He replied in a cold tone he had been using a little more off lately, and walked away. Something was bothering him and I couldn't find out why. Today he sounded colder than usual.

The fact that everytime we were this close to catching Zahra, he'd disappear in thin air must have irritated Neil so much that he's restless and eager to hold him. So was I. Whatever it be, he's not running away tomorrow.

************************************

"Twenty eight and counting." I heard Nelson on my earphone.

"Damn he calls it a small base? What's a big base then?" I replied.

"Come on boys we've handled this number before too." Neil scoffed into his microphone.

"Yeah. But not with the kind of guns these men have! What technology is he using? I've never seen this model before!" Nelson said continuing the head count of enemies we were about to attack.

"It's LZF46. The most modern rifle in the world. Quicker, quieter and sturdier than any other. But costs a fortune." Neil stated.

"Where's he earning so much money from?" Waldo asked.

"He isn't. He stole them." Neil answered and I stopped looking around for a moment.

"Where did he steal these weapons from?" Marks asked. There was no answer given by anyone. I was expecting Neil to say something but he didn't. My guts twisted but I cared about the number of men with weapons more than the source of their weapons.

"There's movement at your 6, Chief." That was for Neil however all of us got ready for action.

Nothing happened for a few minutes. Then suddenly a lot happened.

"Sparrows! Zahra is fleeing. I can see him. I'm going after him rightaway. You guys tackle his men. James take charge. All the best." Neil said hurriedly.

"But chief-" "Neil what the hell are you doing?" "Why are you ditching us here dammit?"

We didn't get any response from him. What we got instead was raining of bullets. Screw my head! They found us.

I had no time to wait for Neil to return. So I took charge as told. "Nelson stay up and keep updating the positions. Cover anyone who gets closer to enemy than our range. Waldo and Marks - team up, head west and start clearing these men. Kelly and Blundell stay on Neil's track and save his back. Garry and I will move north to the main location. And Charles you need to-"

"I can't. I'm going after Neil." Charles replied through private line.

"What's up with you guys today??" I replied irritated.

"Sir, you didn't realise? The rifles were stolen from his kingdom. This is not a normal mission. Neil is going to do something stupid and someone needs to stop him. I'm closest to his location." Charles spoke short of breath which meant he was already running.

Fuck! Why didn't I realise that?? Holy shit!

"Damnit. Get him before he busts everything up." I gave Charles a go ahead.

Now that was sure that my guts were not playing around, I tried to calm down and focus on something that I could be blindly missing. Suddenly I heard some glitch in my earphone and as soon as it came, it disappeared.

Neil you better not be doing this! I quickly took my phone out and reset the channels so that I could access all networks. And as I had dreaded, the other network that was not supposed to be active, was active.

"I waited patiently for years, Zahra. Years to finally see your face and discuss some important matters." That was Neil.

"Neil, stop it! I know this mission is somehow personal to you, but get your head out of it man! Don't risk your and others' lives!" I tried to talk to him but he had switched his reciever off. What the fuck was he doing??

"Important matters? Hahahaha! You mean matters pertaining to you cheating with your own people and not being man enough to own it?" Zahra spoke without a fear in his voice.

Goddam that man doesn't know what Neil can possibly do to him!

Here I was facing Zahra's men with rest of the team and there Neil was having a bloody chatter over tea! Wait a second. He won't talk to his enemy this casually. And why would he activate the other network if he didn't want to hear anything from anyone? Fuck! This conversation is being forwarded somewhere. He wants Zahra to speak up everything through this wordplay and make someone else listen. That's why this other network is active! Fucker has connected an external device to our network! He's gonna be hung! What the heck have you already done, Neil!

"I didn't do it intentionally! You guys made me do it!" Neil shouted back followed by a well known sound of punch. That must have broken Zahra's nose.

"If that helps you sleep at night, go ahead. Believe it. And hit me as much as you can. I know you can't kill me. You've been ORDERED TO not kill me. After all prince Neil can only defy a few orders in his life, right?" Zahra replied with a broken nasal tone and I wanted to punch his face myself. The sound of second punch that came next satisfied my soul a bit.

"I have defied my King's orders because of you. Why do you think I won't defy Commander's orders for you? After all you're the international enemy!" Neil replied sarcastically but I was scared that he meant it.

"No you won't. I'm unarmed and ready to surrender. Your policy says you can't touch me." Zahra replied confidently. Thank god he's unarmed! Atleast Neil is safe.

"The heck with policy! You start speaking before I start putting bullets through your tongue!" That was the coldest I've ever heard him speak. It scared me.

"I... Neil you can't... Put that gun down... I said I'm ready to surrender. Don't shoot." Zahra was talking now.

"Don't shoot him fucker! Don't go rogue! Neil stop right there!" I said knowing my words are falling on deaf ears.

"32 diffused. 4 seen heading towards Neil sir." Nelson updated the status and only then I realised that the shooting had stopped.

"Main building is clear too, Chief. What next?" Garry reported and immediately I was filled with guilt. I was supposed to accompany him. What a loser leader I was!

"Check the surrounding again. If clear, head South to Zahra and Neil at Bravo location. There's going to be a disaster. I'm already halfway. Charles I need update!" I ordered them all to move towards where Neil was. I needed more than two people to stop him.

"Can't find any access inside. He has locked all doors. I am planning to break in." Charles replied.

"Don't! Don't do that. They're both together and Neil has an aim on him. If there's any movement, he might act reflexively. Just stay there. I'm coming." I didn't realise that I spoke this on the common network.

"He has an aim on Zahra?" "Stop him!" "James, we've got clear orders. Remind him!" "If he kills Zahra, he's dead too!" "We all are, dammit! Stop him!"

Shit. I cursed myself.

"I'm trying. He has switched off the reciever! I'm heading there." I replied and quickly turned to the other network.

".... Yes it was me. I used everything you served on the platter. It was all a part of the plan. You were dumb enough to fall in that trap! A ten year old would have seen it through but you couldn't! And they wanted to make you the king? Good thing you decided to leave otherwise the kingdom would have been in shatters!" Zahra said and I immediately regretted. I just missed something very important.

"I knew it was you. I always knew it! Your greed costed me my self respect and conscience and will make me feel guilty throughout my life! I should have killed you then and there, Zahra!"

"But alas, your wish can not be granted. I'll live. I'll surrender and then I'll get out. Right in front of your eyes. And your team? Blah. You all are nothing but a bunch of kittens running around. That James you thought you'll use against me and my men? Bullshit. If anything happens to me, you and your team will be on a hunt. I'm sure you wouldn't want that, huh Prince?" Zahra sounded confident and I was shook hearing my name.

"You really think I'm scared of your dry threats? You deserve nothing less than rotting in hell." "Anyday better than rotting in your shitty kingdom with brainless leaders. You and that asshole father of yours and his moron brother-" His voice was cut short by the sound of a bullet. Soon more shots were fired. Shit.

"Damnit! I'm breaking in! Someone opened fire inside!" Charles reported and my heart dropped.

I heard lot of gunfire and commotion both on my earpiece and from the building in front of me. Suddenly everything stopped right before I jumped in.

My gun pointed at the first man I saw and I was about to pull the trigger when I realised it was Neil looking at my feet in anger.

My gaze turned down to find Zahra on the floor with a bullet through his head. I couldn't even swear at that moment.

There were four more men lying dead on the floor in one corner.

"Instructor!" I heard Kelly's scream as he ran inside from my side. I looked around to other corner and saw Charles on the floor clutching his chest tight, barely breathing.

"Why the heck you jumped in?" Neil asked Charles worriedly.

"You were the target." Instructor Charles mumbled somehow.

"And you put your life in danger?" Kelly asked lifting him up with Mark's help. They didn't wait for his reply and left quickly. Charles turned around to look at Neil one last time, as if assuring himself that he was fine.

"You're bleeding!" Nelson rushed to Neil and only then I saw the pool of blood near his right foot. Fucker had a bullet in his right thigh.

"What the hell happened here?" I shouted more in shock less in anger as Nelson picked up Neil.

Waldo and Blundell had a mute conversation and got on the job to pick Zahra's body.

I stood frozen trying to understand what the fuck happened. That's when I realised how deep a shit we all were in. Specially Neil.

"You killed Zahra." Nelson accused Neil.

"He must have tried to attack him." I answered on his behalf defensively, thinking absolutely nothing.

"He was unarmed." Blundell stated the fact since Zahra's body was right in front of him.

"He was." Neil spoke after all this commotion. "He was unarmed."

All of us looked at each other. Orders were clear - get him alive. There was absolutely no indication to kill him, specially when he didn't try to hit us back. This can't be happening.

"Why Neil?!" I shouted loudly, because I knew he went rogue. He went against the orders and he won't be able to bear what they'll do to him now. Why the hell did he go for that Kill?!!

"Why did you fucking kill him? Shot him right through his brains! You could have hit him on his shin, guts, shoulder! Anywhere BUT HIS HEAD! What have you done, Neil?!" I screamed falling on my knees, the weight getting too much.

The only thing that was going through my mind was - what to do now. How to convince all these men to lie when the court sits, so that they say that Zahra was about to fire at Neil, so he had to do a counter fire. What should I add to the scene of kill, and what should I remove? What should I do now? Oh god. One bullet, Neil. Just one freaking bullet.

Someone lifted me up and I gave in. I was too drained.

"Don't." Neil's voice stopped me in my track.

"Don't try to save me. Don't plan to lie. Tell them exactly what happened." He said calmly knowing right what I was thinking.

"They'll kick you out. Or worse, kill you for going Rogue. Why, Neil. Why?" I was on the the verge of punching him.

"This was my sole purpose all these years. I waited for twelve years for this one bullet. I couldn't just hand him over to commander. My purpose is served and I'm ready to face anything they decide for me." He was calm as ever.

"You have gotten all of us in trouble. We could have stopped you, but we didn't. I didn't. Oh man." I said panicking now.

"No one's in trouble except me. You guys were ordered to stay out. There was no chance you could have done anything. Stay the heck calm." He said.

I saw two vehicles of our convoy heading out. Charles would be safe. Marks was with him. He'll survive.

"Major Neil!" I heard a guard's stern voice.

We turned around to see him with handcuffs in his hand. Those were supposed to be tied up on Zahra's hands. "Commander's orders, sir." He said trying to justify what he was about to do. That means commander has already been informed.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? He can't run away! Look at him!" I shouted at the guard who looked at the river flowing out of the spot where Neil's great toe and second finger used to be. There was another gush of blood along his ankle. His face cringed at the scene.

"Call the medic!" I shouted suddenly realising that he had a bullet in his thigh too. My entire body went into crash mode and I was doing without thinking now.

We quickly dragged Neil out towards the field vehicles. Goddam Charles was shot too! Neil fucked up big time!

After a few steps, I felt his hand heavy on my shoulder. "I've lost lot of blood. I might not be able to make it. Just know that... " He said shifting his weight on to me and fresh panic ran throughout my body.

"Don't you fucking dare say that. Or anything. Just shut up. And stay alive." I bore his weight and dragged him towards the convoy.

By the time I got help of three other men and a stretcher, I saw that Neil had become unconscious. I checked for his pulse in a hurry, my own rising. It was still there.

"Get me an i.v.! Start Saline! Fast! Push the fluid! Get me four more bottles!" I always hated this part of the training but today, I bless all the medics, specially Marks, who taught me how to start and maintain an i.v. line. I pushed one and half litres of fluid into his body knowing that he had lost more blood than that. The fucker disobeyed the commander with two litres less blood in his brain. Fucking hell.

I barely kept him alive on the way till we got into field vehicle. We shifted him, still unconscious, to the ambulance.

"Sir you're not allowed to-" the medic started speaking. "My rifle has more bullets than the words that you're about to speak. Get inside. I'm coming with you." Politeness be damned. I'm not leaving this man out of my sight anymore.

He understood that I'm not fucking around. He stepped in and pointed at one seat where I could rest my dying ass.

I sat and did not even blink to miss anything happening to Neil. A thousand things were going through my mind but the one that kept popping up was - Why. Why did he do it?

We reached All Forces Hospital and immediately shifted him to Operation Theatre. His condition was already informed to the surgeons so they wasted no time in asking for details again.

Charles was already undergoing surgery when we arrived.

We waited outside while they operated on both the men. Neil's bullet was deep as far as I knew. Charles had a bullet in his chest. Was there more than one? Fuck.

In between the surgery, an assistant came out and announced "Anyone of you with A-POSITIVE?"

I knew this was for Neil. He was A Positive. Charles was AB positive. I stood up in an instance, somehow expecting this question. "I'm O-NEGATIVE!" I started walking towards him before I answered him. I was THAT impatient.

"God lives inside you!" he said showing me the way.

It's funny how your Blood group suddenly turns you from Demon to God. Being O-negative, I can donate blood to every Tom, Dick and Harry safely. But if I ever get in need of blood, I'll die waiting for another O-negative.

Neil must have prepared me for everything in all these missions, but he never accepted that one day I'll save his life. That fucker better get up and give me ten bucks for losing this bet.

"How are they?" I asked trying to hide my restlessness.

"Surgeon says Major will live if he gets blood. I have no idea about the other soldier." Dammit. I nodded, feeling relieved that he'll live.

"Get him back. He has an unfinished business." I said laying down on bed.

I knew the drill. I've donated blood a hundred times before. The needle doesn't even prick anymore. I know someone's gonna live with that thing going out of my veins. And this time, it's Neil.

The procedure was quick and I went to join my team. They all were hot on heels too, except two men.

Marks came and sat on one of the chairs rubbing his face. Kelly stood at the door in horror.

"Instructor Charles?" Though I was less worried for him, it still shook me that he was injured.

I could feel that something was wrong. And Kelly's face didn't help a bit.

"He's in bad shape. He's got multiple bullets in both his lungs. He was in shock when we arrived here. They resuscitated him but his lungs are not showing a good sign. The operation might not... he needs more prayers.." I looked at Marks as if he didn't just drop a bomb.

"What do you mean not showing a good sign? They've got to save him!" I shouted angrily. I wasn't angry at anyone but myself.

Damn Charles was in a worse state and I didn't even bother checking on him? I was busy saving Neil's ass when he was the sole reason behind it!

"Fuck, Marks! I didn't... Shit.." "You don't have to feel guilty, James. You didn't know." He said realising what I was thinking.

"He should have listened." Kelly said angrily holding his tears back. "Neil should have listened!" For the first time in so many years, Kelly didn't regard him as Sir. He was furious at him to say the least.

"We don't know what happened inside, Kelly. We can't-" Marks started speaking when I couldn't gather the courage to counter him.

"We all know damn well what happened inside! Zahra was unarmed! Neil had to just pull him out by his collar. Instead he decided to take some bloody revenge! And stupid Charles! He thought he'll change Neil's mind? What happened then? He ended up saving Neil's life by taking bullets that should have passed through Zahra and him rather! Why are you giving him the benefit of doubt when you know damn well what happened!" Kelly was enraged. None of us could disagree with him. He was right. There was absolute silence for a few moments.

"I won't forgive him if Charles..... I won't.." Kelly slid down the wall sobbing onto his hands.

I couldn't believe how one mission took the life out of all of us! Charles is... fuck I can't even say it! Neil is hurt. Half of the team hates him. I can't decide whether to hate him or help him. And fucker won't open his mouth!

God what has happened!

************************************

Just three words - What The Hell !!! I can't even summarise what happened here because it's so much! You think so too?

With this chapter I'm sure a lot of you can relate Neil's past, present and future. Everytime I read this 3.5k+ words chapter for corrections, I could find a new relation to some event in James's future and I'd be in awe. Just so much is packed here!

Let me know your thoughts because THIS IS BIG. 😁😁