**Location:** Tando Jam Pier (Sindh) → Cochin (India) → Arabian Sea
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SCENE 1: PIER OF POISON
Location: Tando Jam, Indus River Port
Green toxin oozed toward the river as Bruce's thumb hovered over the detonator. Jiya's pistol aimed at Salman. Ubaid's crosshairs burned into her temple.
CRACK! CRACK!
Two shots shattered the stalemate.
Jiya spun, blood blooming on her shoulder as her gun clattered away.
Bruce collapsed, screaming, the detonator plunging into murky water.
**Ubaid (scanning the ridge):**
*"Sniper! Northwest! Ghost shooter!"*
**Salman (wrenching the valve shut):**
*"Leak contained! Move on Bruce!"*
**Azan (kneeling by Bruce):**
*"Glenohumeral joint shattered. He's not releasing anything."*
*Thump-thump-thump.* Rotor blades carved the dusk. An unmarked MH-6 helicopter descended, door sliding open to reveal **Captain Rizwan Shah** in ISI tactical gear.
**Rizwan (grinning):**
*"Evening, Phantoms! Hope I didn't miss the fireworks."*
**Ubaid (lowering his rifle):**
*"Rizwan? Explain the shots."*
**Rizwan (dismounting):**
*"Courtesy of my spotter. Jiya's trigger finger needed retirement, and Bruce looked twitchy."* He nodded at Jiya, now cuffed by his team. *"RAW promised you sanctuary for delivering Bruce. They lied."*
As Bruce and Jiya were loaded aboard, Rizwan tapped his comm:
*"Hamza—Packages secured. Basilisk is bottled. Bravo Team inbound."*
The helicopter vanished into bruised twilight, leaving the scent of cordite and betrayal.
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### **SCENE 2: COCHIN VANISHING ACT**
**Location:** Safehouse "Lotus," India
**Zayan** read Hamza's message:
> *"Bruce/Jiya secured. Await extraction coordinates. – H"*
**Emad** peered through blinds at a man in a sweat-stained suit loitering near fish crates:
*"Valkyrie's bloodhound. Third time he's circled the block."*
**Zayan:**
*"Time to disappear. Hamza wants us home."*
**Emad (grinning):**
*"Let's give him a circus. Book *all* routes home—flight, train, bus. Paid in cash. Then we vanish down the rat hole."*
**Aliza (over comms):**
*"Do it. I'll spoof your biometrics on the bookings. Your tail's getting antsy."*
Minutes later, they slipped into Cochin's fish market—reeking of brine and diesel. At Pier 14, Captain Rajan waved them onto the *Fatima's Blessing*.
**Rajan (in Malayalam):**
*"Cargo hold. Don't puke on my squid."*
The hatch clanged shut, plunging them into darkness reeking of fish guts. The trawler chugged into the night.
**Zayan's tablet pinged:**
> *"Extraction: 22°18'15.1"N 69°05'30.5"E. Asset: 'Ghazi.' ETA 04:00. Destroy device. – H"*
**Emad:**
*"180 miles out? Hope Hamza's sending a *very* big boat."*
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### **SCENE 3: DEEPWATER KINGDOM**
**Location:** Designated Grid, Arabian Sea
For two hours, Zayan and Emad's dinghy drifted in moonless blackness. Waves slapped the hull like open palms.
**Emad (squinting at GPS):**
*"Dead on coordinates. Nothing but water and paranoia out here."*
Suddenly, the sea *erupted*.
A geyser of bubbles burst starboard. The **PNS Ghazi**, a 2,500-ton *Khalid*-class submarine, breached the surface—black steel glistening under starlight, water cascading off its conning tower. A hatch hissed open.
**Colonel Hamza** emerged, backlit by red cabin lights. Beside him, **Captain Rizwan** flashed a grin.
**Rizwan (amplified whisper):**
*"Need a lift? Or are you auditioning for shipwrecked sailors?"*
They motored alongside. Steel rungs descended. Rizwan hauled Emad up; Hamza gripped Zayan's forearm.
**Hamza:**
*"Report."*
**Zayan (handing him a drive):**
*"Valkyrie's core data. Basilisk isn't just a toxin—it's programmable. Bruce was a pawn."*
**Emad (tossing a device to Rizwan):**
*"Valkyrie's tracker. Planted it on a Mumbai-bound garbage barge. Their drones will be sniffing trash for days."*
**Hamza (pocketing the drive):**
*"Jiya's singing. Claims she infiltrated RAW *for* us. Bruce is in the brig—babbling about someone called 'The Herpetologist.'"*
Rizwan nodded at the dinghy. *"Scuttle it."* A commando fired. The boat exploded into flames, sinking fast.
As they descended into the sub's steel belly, Hamza's final words hung in the salt air:
*"Rest. The real war starts at dawn."*
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### **SCENE 4: PHANTOMS UNITED**
**Location:** PNS Ghazi Brig
Fluorescent lights hummed in the cramped brig. Behind reinforced glass:
- **Dr. Bruce**, shoulder bandaged, raved to Azan: *"You think *I* designed Basilisk? I was their lab rat!"*
- **Jiya**, pale but defiant, glared at Ubaid: *"I fed RAW false intel for *months* to find Bruce. Ask Hamza."*
In the control room, Aliza's face glowed on a monitor:
*"Colonel—Basilisk spores detected in Lahore's water. Dormant… for now."*
Hamza studied Zayan's data drive. On deck, Salman clapped Emad's shoulder:
*"You two smell like a fisherman's laundry basket."*
**Emad:**
*"Better than smelling like Spetznaz gunpowder, old man."*
Rizwan handed Zayan coffee:
*"Bruce mentioned a lab in the Andamans. 'The Herpetologist's Lair.' Sounds cozy."*
As the Ghazi slid silently toward Karachi at 20 knots, the Phantoms regrouped—bruised but unbroken. The submarine became a steel cocoon holding predator and prey, hurtling toward a storm only they could see.
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