19th May 2003;

Bengaluru;

A siren echoed on the streets of Bangalore, and an ambulance holding four men in white coats sped towards the Indian Space Research Organisation.

The ambulance was given direct entry to the campus and no ID's were asked.

While one man entered the building with a suitcase, two others accompanied him bringing a stretcher from the ambulance.

Inside the centre, the ISRO Chairman held his heart while lying on a bed with five people surrounding him.

"Please come in, Doctor," a security guard said, shoving aside the mob outside the Chairman's room.

"I'll need complete privacy, please," the Doctor said in a deep voice.

The guard and the other prominent figures left the room leaving only the four men in white coat and the Chairman of ISRO in the room.

The four men with a white coat pulled out some rusted parts and joined them after some initial struggle putting together a gun.

The Chairman, though in tremendous pain and holding his heart tried making some sounds to alert the security. One of the terrorists looked the Chairman in the eye;

Tilted his head a bit and shot him in the chest. Within the next few seconds, three of them had removed their white coats, shouted their war cry and charged out of the room, aiming and shooting at whatever they saw move. While three of them head towards one direction, the fourth one with the white coat still on, was headed to the exact opposite direction in the circular building.

A security guard just managed to press the alarm before engaging in the shooting.

Backup was called upon and a team of armed security men head towards the location in the building.

The guards reached the point of terror and a crossfire emerged between the guards and the terrorists. Tables, Chairs, Nokia Phones were all used as covers between the crossfire.

Bullets whizzed passed them and the guards were forced to shoot back.

Several bodies of scientists and security guards lay on the ground, lifeless. Between them, 2 security guards looked at each other and nodded.

One of the security guards took the help of covers as he raced back. He wanted to go around the circular building and capture the enemy in between the crossfire.

He raced back and sprinted as fast as he could, jumping over lifeless people. He dared not look at the bodies cause if he did, he might recognise a few faces and his heart might just give away to the emotions.

He was almost through when he reached the satellite department and saw a bearded man come out calmly, tucking a piece of paper under his coat. The two exchanged gazes for a while, each one wondering what the other one was up to.

The guard slowly placed his hand on his holster while the man took his hand to the back of his pants.

Within the blink of an eye, both guns were out and shots were fired. The man fell to the ground as the guard roared out in pain. The guard had managed to hit the man in the chest but the man had hit his bullet straight into the guard's knee. The guard limped over and took out the parchment of paper from under the man's coat. He placed it in his pocket and continued to limp forward while His colleague and partner were trying to keep the three terrorists at bay.

Somehow he managed to limp his way without making any sound and saw three men, all with their back towards him, using a fallen wooden table as their cover and shooting at the other end, taking turns.

The sound of heavy and co-ordinated footsteps echoed through the building making it evident that backup had come. The guard pulled out his pistol and without thinking twice he shot three bullets, two of them embedded into the back of one man and one hitting the head of the second. The third man, however, swiftly turned around while crouching and shot his bullet which collided with the guard's hand and the guard's gun flew out of his hand.

Just then, "FREEZE!" A voice yelled. The man was surrounded by men in bulletproof vests and large machine guns pointing at him, but his gun was pointing at an unarmed guard whose eyes showed no signs of fear even though his body held 2 bullets and blood flowed out of It like a river.

"DROP YOUR WEAPON AND PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM" the man yelled.

The terrorist flinched but did not drop his weapon.

"DROP YOUR WEAPON" the man yelled again.

For the first time on Indian soil, the terrorist opened his mouth while looking at the guard

"Keep our secret safe," he muttered "You've done a great work by joining us. Don't let these Indians fool you," he said and fired three consecutive shots at the guard, all of which got embedded in his right leg and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

As soon as the terrorist had fired shots, 18 bullets hit him, instinct taking over all the officers.

"That Bastard," Gajendra Yadav said as Bipin was swooped back into reality.

"The guard was Ravi Chaudhary, my maternal uncle," Bipin said, putting his glasses back on.

"This all, we know about, Bipin. What happened after that?" Raj spoke after a long time, his lips dry lips moving after a very long time.

The cuckoo cooed five times, signalling that the two hours of the inquiry were over.

"That, gentlemen, is a story for another time," Bipin said while getting up, shaking hands, and leaving.