**Location:** Gwadar Beach, Balochistan & Black Site Alpha, Islamabad
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**SCENE 1: PHANTOMS AT REST**
**Location:** Pearl Continental Hotel Beach, Gwadar
**Time:** 11:00 AM
Turquoise waves lapped at sugar-white sand. Captain Zayan Malik lay under a striped umbrella, aviators shielding his eyes from the Balochi sun. Around him, the Phantom Seven decompressed:
- **Salman** and **Azan** argued over cricket scores.
- **Ubaid** meticulously cleaned sand from his flip-flops (a sniper's fastidiousness).
- **Aliza** and **Aaliya** built a sandcastle shaped like a server firewall.
**Emad (stretching on a lounger):**
"Zayan… who's *Benny*? The fisherman in Cochin said 'friends of Benny.' Saved our bacon."
**Zayan (sipping fresh sugarcane juice):**
"Benish Siddiqui. Callsign 'Benny.' Runs a shadow network from Bandar Abbas to Kochi. Smuggles intel, weapons, *people*. Been off-grid for four years."
**Emad (raising an eyebrow):**
"ISI asset?"
**Zayan:**
"Freelancer. Hates labels. She knows our faces, ops, even Hamza's coffee order. We've never met her."
**Emad (grinning):**
"A ghost who ghosts ghosts? I like her. Wish I could buy her a drink."
**Zayan (pointing at the horizon):**
"See that dhow anchored offshore? Crew's been watching us since dawn. Could be her eyes… or someone else's."
Ubaid's hand drifted toward his towel-wrapped pistol.
**Aliza (not looking up from her sand-firewall):**
"Relax, Ghost Eye. They're Customs. Tracking diesel smugglers. Benny's people tipped *them* off to avoid this beach today. We're clear."
A comfortable silence fell, broken only by the gulls. The calm felt earned but fragile.
---
### **SCENE 2: THE INTERROGATION ROOM – JIYA**
**Location:** Black Site Alpha, Sub-Level 4, Islamabad
**Time:** 14:00 Hours
The room was Arctic-cold, lit by a single LED strip. **Jiya** sat cuffed to a bolted steel chair, her shoulder bandaged. Across the scarred table, **Colonel Hamza** and **Captain Rizwan** watched her. A two-way mirror hid observers.
**Hamza (sliding a file across the table):**
"Agent 007. Jiya. Or should I say… **Captain Jennifer Robert, Indian Army Intelligence Corps**?"
Jiya met his gaze, defiance hardening her eyes. She didn't touch the file.
**Jiya:**
"Correct, Colonel. Service number IN-7886-R. And before you ask—yes, I orchestrated the 2022 **'charitable medicine' scandal**."
**Rizwan (leaning forward):**
"You diverted WHO COVID-19 aid shipments. Replaced antivirals with diluted fentanyl-laced saline. Caused over 3,000 overdose deaths in Karachi and Lahore."
**Jiya (voice icy calm):**
"Targeted elimination. The weak, the immunocompromised—burdens on your crumbling healthcare system. We accelerated nature."
**Hamza:**
"Your second attempt?"
**Jiya:**
"Phase Two: Introduce weaponized influenza strains into refugee camps near Peshawar. Failed. Your former Prime Minister **Imran Khan**…" Her lip curled. "…implemented those absurd mobile testing labs and village quarantines. Contained it in weeks." She paused, almost respectful. "A competent leader. A rare thing here."
**Rizwan (slamming his palm on the table):**
"Why turn on RAW? Why help us catch Bruce?"
**Jiya (smiling thinly):**
"Bruce's toxin was *clumsy*. Basilisk would've killed rich and poor alike. My work was… *surgical*. RAW lost its nerve. Became bureaucrats. I haven't."
**Hamza (standing):**
"You're no soldier. You're a war criminal."
**Jiya (leaning back, chains clinking):**
"And you're a dying man clutching at ghosts, Colonel. How long has the Parkinson's been eating your nerves? Six months? A year?"
Hamza's knuckles whitened. The truth hung in the frigid air.
---
### **SCENE 3: THE HERPETOLOGIST'S CONFESSION**
**Location:** Adjacent Interrogation Room
Dr. Cameron Bruce shivered under a shock blanket, his shoulder wound leaking through gauze. **Major Tariq Khan** (Balochistan Theatre) and **Dr. Azan Khan** faced him.
**Bruce (babbling):**
"The scales… the *venom*… Komodo dragons hold the key to targeted gene therapy! Valkyrie promised—"
**Tariq (cutting him off):**
"You weaponized it. For RAW."
**Bruce (eyes wild):**
"MI6 first! I worked for **Porton Down**! Classified projects: 'Nightshade,' 'Frostbite.' Then RAW offered £500,000 and a villa in Goa to weaponize my research against Pakistan!"
**Azan (placing a vial of green liquid on the table):**
"This is Basilisk concentrate. How does it activate in water?"
**Bruce (flinching):**
"Encapsulated lipid spheres. Dissolve at 28°C—average Indus temperature. Releases airborne prions."
**Tariq:**
"Why rivers?"
**Bruce (hysterical laugh):**
"Poison the *source*. Let your people drink their own rot! RAW wanted collapse before monsoon season. Refugee waves into India… chaos for reoccupation of Kashmir…"
**Azan (disgusted):**
"You're a scientist. How could you—"
**Bruce (spitting):**
"Science?! They held my daughter! Sophie… she's in RAW custody in **Bengaluru**! Said they'd peel her skin off if I refused!" He collapsed into sobs.
Tariq exchanged a look with Azan. The monster was broken.
---
### **SCENE 4: GHOSTS ON THE BEACH**
**Location:** Gwadar Beach
**Emad (tossing a cricket ball to Salman):**
"Think Bruce cracked?"
**Salman (snatching it mid-air):**
"Azan's with him. He'll break him without laying a hand on him. Guilt's sharper than pliers."
**Aaliya (frowning at her tablet):**
"Encrypted burst signal from Karachi. Hamza's ending the interrogations. Jiya's been… *contained*."
**Zayan (staring at the dhow):**
"Benny's moving."
The distant dhow raised anchor, its sails catching the wind. A signal lamp flashed twice toward shore:
**· · — — · ·** (Morse: *"GFY"*)
**Aliza (snorting):**
"Yep. That's Benny. Says 'Good For You.' Probably watched the whole vacation."
**Ubaid (finally smiling):**
"Next time, Emad? Offer her *better* whiskey."
Zayan's secure phone buzzed. A message from Hamza:
> **"Jiya: Indian Captain Jennifer Robert. Motive: Bioweapon-enabled societal collapse. Bruce: MI6 asset turned RAW weapon. Motive: Coercion (daughter hostage). Return to base. New priority: Rescue Sophie Bruce."**
The sun beat down, the sea glittered, but the shadows had grown longer. The war hadn't paused—it had found new battlegrounds.
**Zayan (standing, brushing sand off):**
"Vacation's over, Phantoms. We have a daughter to save."
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