IB Headquarters, New Delhi.

5 PM

Rajiv and Monty left Ajit Doval's office and were walking along the corridor when Rajiv's phone buzzed.

He answered with suppressed nervousness,

"Hi Victor, I was just about to call you! What is going on? Monty said..."

"Rajiv, are you in a private area?" Victor's voice was almost a whisper.

Rajiv and Monty looked around. They could see Shinde at the end of the corridor, talking animatedly over the phone stuck in between his shoulder and ear, as he carried a package in his right arm.

Rajiv opened the nearest door and snuck into a small meeting room and Monty followed swiftly.

"I am in a meeting room now with Monty. Shinde is around the corner but we are keeping an eye on him." Rajiv assured and turned the speaker on the phone.

"Good, DJ must be kept under the impression that IB is not doing anything in a hurry. It's best if Shinde and DJ think that IB is delaying things because Doval Sir is still blaming me for the kidnapping of my family. To be honest, it was completely my fault."

Monty felt helpless as he heard the guilt and suppressed anger in Victor's voice.

"Victor, please don't blame yourself. Let's focus on what we need to do now. Did you hear back from Sharmila? Me and Rajiv will be there with you and we will make sure we will get your family out safely." Monty said.

"Thanks Monty. Yes, Sharmila texted me and that's how I came to know that Loki has joined hands with Satish and his gang. Now that I have observed Loki long enough, I know why he is holding up my family without DJ's knowledge and for what. Why that particular warehouse though? I have my doubts. I will explain in detail later. But right now, If you want to join me, I have a plan."

Victor began to explain and Rajiv and Monty chuckled at each other as they listened.

After some time, they peeked outside and caught Shinde walking towards their room with one small bag in his hand.

Monty left the door slightly ajar and returned to his seat and began to look anxiously at Rajiv, as he paced the small room, yelling on his mobile.

"What the hell were you thinking Victor? Is everyone in the Intelligence Bureau there to protect your family and to clean up the mess you make on your so-called missions? How dare you take us for granted and use our rookies for your personal vendetta? Do you have any idea how mad Doval Sir is?"

Monty could hear the heavy breathing of Shinde as he shuffled his feet on the other side of the door.

Victor's pleading voice from the speaker of the mobile was clear enough.

"Rajiv, please. I completely blame myself for this fiasco. But I need help, I need to save my family. Doval Sir is not even picking up my calls. Please convince Doval Sir to get a few agents, and check where Loki is. I shamelessly boasted to DJ that we will be coming after him and his brother Loki. If something happens to my family..." The tremor in Victor's voice was true enough.

Rajiv felt ashamed for putting up such a show but he continued...

"Okay okay. Please control yourself. I will speak to Doval Sir and see what I can do. But understand his situation and agency situation too Victor. What if this news gets out? Our agency's reputation will be in tatters if anyone comes to know that the family of our top agent got kidnapped and that too by his look-alike brother who once paraded as a fake agent!! We will become a laughing stock. But we can't do anything today. Doval Sir has gone to PMO for some briefings and we have meetings lined up all day. Perhaps I can sit with him tomorrow and explain..."

Rajiv opened the door in a flash to find a highly flustered Shinde outside the room.

"What do you want Shinde? Were you listening to our conversation?" Rajiv demanded.

Shinde gulped nervously as he closed the bag tightly but spoke in an indignant tone "As if I have got nothing better to do. I went to your office to inform you that your medical claims have been approved but your colleagues told me that you were here. I still need your signature on some forms."

Rajiv smiled apologetically.

"Sorry Shinde. I was in a bad mood due to some..." He cut off the call and diverted his full attention to the office supervisor whose greed and disloyalty caused so much havoc and loss to their prestigious agency.

"Thanks for getting the paperwork done. I will be out of office all day today with Doval Sir for meetings. I will come and see you tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Sure, whenever you can." Shinde could not hide the relief in his face as he walked away from the meeting room.

"What happened to that package he was carrying earlier?" Monty asked, once Shinde's back disappeared at the end of the corridor.

"I think I have a shrewd Idea. That package's contents were some dubious "gifts" from DJ to keep us out of action. The security team is already watching Shinde's every move and will remove those without casting any doubt and make sure they are disposed of. Let's go to the surveillance hub. We have no time to lose." Rajiv and Monty hurried along the corridor.

======

Dhaula Kuan

As their car sped towards their destination, DJ almost barked at Sattu.

"Call that bloody idiot Shinde right now!"

Sattu had always seen DJ as a calm and controlled person, in command of every situation. Watching his furious and agitated behaviour right now was unnerving to say the least.

Sattu didn't dare to hesitate and rang Shinde's number.

"Put it on speaker and ask him what is happening right now and whether he has placed all the boxes we gave him in the correct places!" DJ rasped.

Shinde's low and neurotic voice from the phone filled the car as it entered the narrow roads of Dhaula Kuan.

"Sattu Bhai, what is in those boxes that you have asked me to place where the field agents are?"

DJ looked at Sattu and shook his head.

"Nothing but a mild perfume scented box Shinde Saab. It is best if you know nothing about it. Trust me, no one will get any serious harm from it." Sattu assured him.

"Oh ... okay. To be honest, there is nothing to do. Your men met me and asked me to keep an eye out for Victor or any one trying to help Victor. But none of the field agents are talking about him or your gang. They are working on other missions. In fact, I personally heard Rajiv speaking with Victor. Doval sir is quite angry and is refusing to help him it seems. I am not sure what you are expecting the agents to do here, but what you asked me to do was totally unnecessary. I made sure the CCTV cameras are turned off but I can get into serious trouble if they notice me placing those boxes from the package!" Shinde whined.

DJ signalled to Sattu to end the call.

Sattu reassured Shinde that he won't get into any trouble, but urged him to keep an eye out and inform DJ's gang waiting outside IB, if he notices any activity.

DJ looked thoughtfully out of the window and noticed how normal and busy his neighbourhood seemed, even on a tumultuous day like this.

Why is everyone ganging up against him all of a sudden! Has he not been a good leader, looking after everyone's interests, despite all the setbacks?

He sighed and scratched his head and remembered another loose end he needed to take care of himself, due to absence of his right hand men like Tanvir and Suraj Chacha.

He turned to Sattu and asked, "Did you call your brother Hari to stop chasing that car and come back?"

"I tried earlier bhai, I could not get through, I will call him again." Sattu picked up his mobile.

The call again went to an automated message and Sattu looked at DJ nervously and tried once again.

=======

IB Surveillance Hub

Rajiv and Monty entered the special lift used for maintenance. Monty saw Rajiv press the button for the third floor but the lift began to descend slowly and went down for six floors before opening to a corridor where there were no doors but just a concrete wall.

Rajiv pressed his hand into a hidden biometric scanner in the wall and it opened into an atrium with multiple offices on three different levels. Rajiv turned left and entered a large room, teeming with activity where multiple observers were taking calls as well as noting video footage.

As Monty followed Rajiv into the hub, he became awestruck at the scale of the operation and silently thanked their director Ajit Doval for his swift actions.

A huge wall was filled up with multiple screens streaming CCTV footage from various points in Delhi and NOIDA. First few screens were monitoring the activity at the lane leading towards Delhi Warehouse where Loki had taken his kidnappers to.

Unfortunately there were no cameras near the Warehouse.

They could see multiple taxis with passengers entering the lane within a short time, and returning back empty a short while later. Perhaps Satish's gang arrived there separately to avoid any suspicion.

Two more screens were streaming live CCTV footage of cars of DJ's gang as they tailed Satish's car speeding towards the NOIDA warehouse.

But the majority of screens were following five identical black SUV's in Dhaula Kuan and Monty could easily guess that DJ was in one of them.

Just then, one of the screens began to show footage of a street with a high rise apartment block.

====

Dhaula Kuan

6 PM

The orange hue from the setting sun was no match to the blazing eyes of DJ as he glared out of the window of his SUV and instructed the driver exactly where to stop the car and alert the rest of the gang.

Sattu's eyes widened in surprise and he began to protest but DJ cut him off.

"Just Shut Up and ask everyone to meet me there. Also call our new medical centre, anyone who is in charge of security there. Quickly!"

"Okay Bhai!"Sattu began to look up numbers on his phone as their car sped back towards their destination. They were followed by the other four cars.

As usual, all this commotion around DJ's convoy didn't escape the notice of the alert residents of Dhaula Kuan and they began to follow DJ's car.

Mohsin and Manish took a cue from Victor's and disguised themselves as Sikhs, adorning their heads with bright turbans along with thick tied up beards. There was a street food cafe opposite to Satish's apartment block and they settled there with Tea and Snacks.

Meanwhile Sattu managed to get hold of Yusuf Shah, the security in charge of the newly inaugurated medical centre in Dhaula Kuan and handed over his mobile to DJ.

"DJ Bhai, how can I be of service?" Yusuf asked nervously, still reeling under the fiasco of their security lapse with Loki and his runaway escape in one of their Ambulances.

"Don't we have GPS trackers in all our ambulances?"

"Yes we do Bhai! But we could only track the Ambulance till Moti Bagh. It looks like it was either broken or turned off..."

Yusuf let the words hang before adding eagerly, "But I do have some friends in traffic police who might be able to help me track it through CCTV cameras on major highways."

"No... you will do no such thing." DJ barked,

"I am so sorry Bhai, I don't know what I was saying.. I mean!" Yusuf kept stammering his apologies before DJ cut off the phone

"Bhai, I don't understand why you wanted to come back here. Hari said..." Sattu stopped as he felt the intensity of DJ's furious stare.

DJ took a deep breath and exhaled.

"It is the oldest trick in the book Sattu. Wear something bright that catches the eye and make sure you talk in such a way that everyone hears. Satish knew all along that we put audio devices in the car and were following him. All these days that I have observed him, he wore nothing but black or grey shirts and was very controlled in his manner, even though he was under so much stress. But today he was too loud, too outspoken not just in his speech but his appearance as well. I bet the car that Hari and his men are following right now has a guy wearing Satish's bright red shirt. If Satish was indeed talking to Loki, why did he do it, both times when he was in the car? It was purely to mislead us to follow him to some godforsaken place, away from Loki. Now all I want to know is, how dare he pull this trick on me and my men and who is behind this? It must be Victor!"

"Bhai, Who is Victor?" Sattu asked in confusion.

DJ felt an utter sense of DejaVu and wondered how he was going to answer the question. but he was saved when their car stopped a few blocks away from their destination, the apartment block where Satish lived.

DJ stepped out of the car and there was a hush around him as the crowd following his convoy stopped and looked at him.

He spoke in a low but firm voice." One of our men has become a traitor and we have to catch him red handed without raising any suspicion. So, I want all of you to go back to your work. If I need any of your help, I will tell you."

"Sattu, tell two of our men to keep an eye on Satish's apartment block and tell us if they see anything suspicious."

"Of Course Bhai!" Sattu conveyed DJ's orders and two men got out of the SUV and began their observation.

DJ sat back in his car and several minutes passed by in waiting.

Sattu's phone rang again and his face widened with a smile as he saw it was from his brother Hari.

=====

IB Surveillance Hub

6 PM

Rajiv's phone buzzed and he picked up immediately.

"Yeah Victor, we just started checking CCTV in front of Satish's apartment. But why....?"

Monty could not hear what Victor's response was.

Rajiv's attention, just like everyone else's, got shifted to the screens with black SUV' as all of them screeched to a sudden halt and then began to reverse back towards Dhaula Kuan.

"Why is DJ's convoy returning back to Dhaula Kuan?" Rajiv thought loudly.

"Oh shit! Don't tell me DJ has already caught up with things" Victor exclaimed over the phone.

One of the observers picked up a call and alerted everyone that it was from IB agent Mohsin Khan in Dhaula Kuan and connected the call on their AV stream for everyone to hear.

Ajit Doval too entered the Hub just then and asked for an update.

"Sir, Victor's hunch about Satish turned true. We are in disguise and have positioned ourselves outside Satish's apartment block and we saw a few men from their Mumbai gang go inside the block ten minutes ago. As we entered the area, we saw DJ's convoy coming back to Dhaula Kuan. Two of his men are on the lookout nearby, just like we are, but all his cars are in the next street . It looks like DJ had already figured things out and didn't fall for Satish's trap."

"Damn! Just when we thought we could get him!" Doval muttered in frustration.

"Sir! Victor is on call too." Rajiv connected his phone to the AV system and they heard Victor's determined voice.

"Sir, we still have hope. The fact that our men have managed to enter Dhaula Kuan without arousing suspicion is a great feat. Probably most of DJ's men have scattered around, unable to intercept everyone coming into their neighbourhood. Mohsin, I hope you have your button camera with you?" Victor asked.

"Yes Victor and I am going to turn it on the moment I see Satish or DJ near me." Mohsin assured.

"Victor, I am sending a team to the location we discussed earlier and Monty and Rajiv are on their way to join you." Ajit Dovals' deep baritone voice prompted Monty and Rajiv to start.

Rajiv paused as he reached for his phone, as he heard the choked up voice of Victor.

"Thank you Sir. And Team, I don't know how to thank you all but I am truly grateful. One more thing, I swear I will make sure no one from our Agency gets hurt this time."

Most of the team members in the surveillance hub looked at each other in shock to hear Victor speak so emotionally.

"Stop this nonsense Victor and get on with your job, I'm warning you." Ajit Doval replied gruffly. He looked around the room and continued, " and that is not just for Victor but Everyone! We want to catch DJ's gang today, understand?"

As the team resumed its activities, another call came through, this time from the chief of the ATS Commandos who were waiting at the NOIDA Guest house.

"Doval Sir, This is Captain Bijoy Sinha. We caught members of DJ's gang and Satish' gang while they were shooting at each other and arrested most of them. From DJ's gang there was one fatality and two men from Satish's gang were seriously injured. But we caught the main guy Hari alive. Is there anything else we need to do here before handing them over to your team?"

Everyone in the room cheered as Ajit Doval applauded, "Great news Captain!"

Once the room calmed down, Victor's low yet determined voice from the phone caught everyone's attention.

"Sir, can I suggest something?"

"Sure"

Victor addressed Captain Sinha directly, but this time his tone became steely.

"Captain Sinha, Put a gun to Hari's head and make him call DJ and lie that they are all okay. Make sure Hari finds out where DJ and his men are heading for, and pretend he will join them. The longer DJ thinks he has everything under his control, the better for us. Do the same with Satish's gang as well."

"That's my Victor and he is back!" Ajit Doval chuckled loudly and Monty too smiled in relief.

"But what if he begins to blabber and compromises our operation?" Captain Sinha protested

"Then Captain, make use of the gun, " Victor's chilling reply eased his doubts. "Our intention is to catch the whole gang alive, but in extreme circumstances we have to take every step necessary for our mission's success."

"Roger that!"

As the call from the ATS Chief ended, the atmosphere became tense as before.

Rajiv too picked up his phone and ended his call with Victor.

Rajiv hurried towards his car along with Monty and they made sure they exited the building through the back door like the rest of the agents, away from the prying eyes of DJ's Men and Shinde.

=========

Dhaula Kuan

Apartment Block of Satish

A local Milk Truck was parked in front of the apartment and a couple of well built men were busy loading covered milk trays onto the truck. The men looked neither like labourers nor regular drivers from their area.

Two of DJ's men hurried back to DJ's car and explained what was happening.

DJ looked at Sattu who nodded his head silently in understanding and got out of the car. His movements were mirrored by three of his men from other cars. Two of them hurried forward and turned left into a sidelane and reached the Carpark of the apartment block from the other end, while another followed Sathu and walked slowly towards the milk truck.

Sattu noticed Satish walking towards the milk truck and hid behind another car. Satish checked around the street as he tucked his gun into the pocket of his black overalls.

Just as he was about to climb into the front seat of the Milk truck, all hell broke loose.

Two of DJ's men attacked Satish from behind while the men who were loading the milk crates were overpowered by Sattu and his mates.

DJ's car slowly made its way towards the milk truck.

Sattu's men bound Satish and his gang men with whatever they could find and forced them into one of their SUV's.

Only Satish was allowed to stand in the middle of the street.

The residents of Dhaula Kuan who were following DJ's car rushed towards the apartment block and formed a ring of barrier around the men who dared to betray their leader.

DJ got out of his car slowly and walked towards Satish as the crowd parted and made way for him.

Mohsin Khan and Manish slowly made their way to the front of the crowd and Mohsin turned on the button camera attached to his shirt.

Satish struggled against his captors as DJ came closer to him, but his reddened face showed no signs of fear, which made DJ more furious.

"Where is Loki? Tell me the truth if you want to live." DJ growled.

"I would have been disappointed if you had fallen for our trap so easily DJ, Good job." Satish nodded his head in mock appreciation.

DJ moved closer to Satish and slapped him hard.

"Wow, it has finally come to this, right? Show off your power against a bound man! Ah I understand... for your followers who live in fear of you and think that they owe their lives to you. If you really are that brave, why don't you untie me?"

"Traitors and cowards like you have no right to talk about brevity. You ganged up with Victor to plot against me and my brother. I will ask my men to skin you alive right now if you don't tell me where Loki is."

"You think I teamed up with Victor? Hmmm I have never heard a worse joke than that! How dare you think that I would side with someone who put our Boss Sharath Nair behind bars!" Satish's eyes lit up with fury and DJ looked at him thoughtfully.

"You are such a fool, DJ. People are plotting against you right under your nose yet you have no clue. You think too much of yourself... this so-called benevolent emperor of the underworld who is respected and feared by all... oh what fun it would be when you fall off from that high horse!"

Sattu could not control himself and kicked Satish hard. His blood was boiling ever since he came to know how Satish fooled their gang by lying about Loki's hideout. It was pure luck that his brother Hari and other men were safe. If only they had walked into the trap set by Satish, they would be either dead by now or arrested by IB.

Satish's mobile fell out of his Jeans and Sattu grabbed it. He forced Satish to press his thumb against it to unlock the phone. As they checked his last checked in locations, one warehouse stood as the most visited.

"Bhai, looks like Loki is at Krishna Nagar Granite Warehouse."

DJ's brows furrowed. Why did Loki go there of all places? Unless...

As he watched the changing colours in DJ's face Satish began to laugh.

"Caught on finally, have you? Go... go to the warehouse right now DJ. I am sure Loki is waiting for you."

"Shut up you bloody traitor, how dare you open your mouth!" Sattu kicked him again.

As Satish buckled to his knees, he defiantly looked up at DJ and said, "Okay, I know I am a dead man walking. But will you at least let me speak uninterrupted for a few minutes? Consider it my last wish, if you like."

Rahim Kaka, who drove Suman around whenever she needed, was among the crowd, watching the events unfold in shock. He approached DJ and Satish and said gently. " Nobody is going to die Beta, DJ is not such a person. He took care of my whole family when I lost my job and got my daughter married to a good family too."

Sattu came forward and tried to steer Rahim Kaka away from DJ, but he turned towards DJ and pleaded, "DJ what is happening here? Why is he talking about last wish? Let him speak Beta!"

DJ sighed deeply. He needs to calm Rahim Kaka before things get out of hand. Maybe taking on Satish in this open area was a bad idea. Most of the crowd were young men but there were few women and kids too.

"Rahim Kaka." he began but was interrupted by Satish.

"Kaka... you seem to be a nice man but let me tell you, your so-called leader has deceived you and everyone else in Dhaula Kuan. He is trying to silence me in the fear that I am going to tell everyone what a coward he has been. He is hiding behind all of you, sitting in his pretty mansion instead of protecting his younger brother Loki who is in danger right now. He failed to protect Tanveer and many others in the gang as they sacrificed themselves for him and his family."

Mention of Tanvir's name made DJ snap. He charged at Satish and wound his stubby fingers around his throat.

"Bhai, don't... he is not worth it." Sattu and others pulled DJ away from Satish.

Watching DJ lose his control gave eternal satisfaction to Satish.

"You think you are the cleverest DJ, but you are not. Victor has fooled you time and time again. Victor got my boss Sharath Nair arrested in Mumbai and killed Tanvir right here under your nose and you could do nothing. That's what is bothering you. Finally someone has come to end your game and it does not help that he is Loki's brother. Is that why you have not bothered to go after him? We know how much you care about family!" Satish began to laugh derisively till Sattu smacked his face hard.

Crowd began to murmur... Loki's brother... what is he talking about...

Sattu looked at the crowd nervously and led DJ away from Satish towards their car. DJ seemed to be too incensed to understand what was going on around him.

Satish shouted loudly from behind, even as DJ's men tried their best to contain him.

"Oh I forgot... none of these people know, right? Loki is not DJ's real brother. He is the twin brother of IB agent Victor who has sworn to kill DJ and Loki and all our gang members. But instead of attacking Victor, your Bhai is showing his might on me and my gang as we try to escape from his control. Maybe he is too scared of Victor. No wonder Loki hates him."

Before Sattu realised what was happening, DJ turned around, pulled out his gun and shot Satish right between his eyes.

==========