Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 151 - The 18th Birthday (3)

As soon as she heard pirates were headed their way, Shehnaaz’s first reaction was to look to Rashmi. “Miss Desai! What’s going on here?!”

Rashmi rushed to the side of the deck and looked out to the sea. The white speedboat was getting closer and closer; she could now see the savage faces aboard the boat.

“What on earth?!” Rashmi’s hands tightened on the ship’s railing, her expression incredulous. “Where are the guests I invited? That’s the speedboat I booked for them, I’m sure of it!”

If the people on the speedboat were not the guests she had invited, then where had all the guests gone?

Shehnaaz was about to say something, but Deepak had already grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her back to their suite on the third floor, where they had left their belongings.
Once they were inside their room, Deepak grabbed his phone and called Sidharth and Rohit. He also sent them text messages.

The dial tone sounded a few times, but no one answered. After that, a song began to play. The singer sang a few lines of lyrics.
“…They’re in the middle of a mission,” Deepak muttered.

The song was a secret code, indicating that the Special Ops
soldiers were currently in the middle of a mission and could
not answer the phone.

Shehnaaz looked at him. “Brother Deepak, what did you just say?”

Deepak was honest with her. “Mr. Shukla is currently in the middle of an urgent mission. He can’t answer the phone.”

Shehnaaz did not say anything.

She knew that for Sidharth, his missions always came first. She could never compete with his obligations as a soldier, and had never tried to.

She had wished only to occupy a small corner of his heart— a small, insignificant place, just big enough to accommodate her.

Shehnaaz lowered her head and looked at the box of gun parts Deepak had brought with him. She said calmly, “We’ll just have to save ourselves, then.”

Deepak sent an urgent message to the Special Operations Forces military base in C City of India. As soon as Sidharth and Rohit had
wrapped up their mission, the base would relay his message to them.

He turned off his phone and began assembling the guns with Shehnaaz’s help.

The gun parts he had brought with him could be assembled into a sniper rifle and a M1941 semi-automatic light machine gun. There was also a box of bullets in the pocket compartment of his suitcase.

The two of them fell silent as they quickly assembled the two guns.

“Bulletproof vest. Put it on.” Deepak handed Shehnaaz a long bulletproof vest, before strapping on his own bulletproof vest.

Shehnaaz took it, and went to the bathroom to change. She removed her dress, put on a T-shirt and shorts, and strapped on the bulletproof vest. She asked as she walked out of the bathroom: “What if I fall into the sea?”

“Not a problem. This is the most advanced bulletproof vest from our country, the latest tech—it works as a life jacket, too.” Deepak winked at her.

It was a joke. How was he able to joke at a time like this? Shehnaaz  did not know, but she was impressed by his mental fortitude. He was truly one of the elite soldiers of the Special Operations Forces.

The joke worked like a charm: the unease in her heart vanished.

Deepak extracted a box of bullets from his suitcase pocket and loaded the bullets into a bandolier. He wrapped it around Shehnaaz’s waist like a belt. “Use them sparingly. These are all we have.”