"Take Me Back"

Episode 23: The Silent Hunters

The high-pitched whine of the drones felt like a drill against my skull. Through the cracked windows of the warehouse, I could see three small, black shapes hovering like predatory insects. Their red lights blinked rhythmically, scanning every inch of the "Dead Zone."

"If we run, they’ll pick us off in the open," Kabir whispered, his eyes darting around the dark room. "These are Singhania surveillance drones. They have thermal imaging. They don't need light to see us."

"Then we make ourselves invisible," I said, my heart pounding. I looked at the old industrial freezers in the corner of the warehouse. "Those old cooling units... they’re lined with lead and thick insulation. If we get inside, our heat signatures will vanish."

Kabir nodded, grabbing the military laptop. "Do it. I need two minutes to connect to their frequency."

We dove into the cramped, freezing metal boxes just as the first drone smashed through a skylight. I held my breath, the cold metal biting into my skin. Through a tiny gap, I watched the drone fly inches away from our hiding spot. It paused, its camera lens whirring, but it saw nothing but cold steel.

Meanwhile, Kabir’s fingers were flying across the keyboard. "I’ve got it," he breathed. "I’m not just hacking them, Aria. I’m 'spoofing' their GPS."

On his screen, I saw the drone's feed. Kabir was feeding it a loop of an empty warehouse while simultaneously sending a fake signal to the Singhania headquarters. To them, it would look like we were currently driving a stolen truck toward the Rajasthan border.

"The drones are heading west," Kabir said as the buzzing sound faded into the distance. "But we can't stay here. Once they realize the truck is empty, they’ll be back with a ground team."

"Wait," I said, pointing to a new file that had just finished decrypting on the screen. "Look at the 'Black Fund' list. There’s a recurring payment to a private security firm in Delhi called Vanguard. Kabir... that’s the same firm my father used to work for before he started his own business."

The circle was closing. My father wasn't just a victim; he was part of the infrastructure.