Rain hammered the city like war drums.
Inside his dimly lit study, Inspector Jamshed stood before a corkboard plastered with photos, arrows, and timelines — a map of ghosts.
Each thread led back to one point: Operation S-13, the mission that no file in the police archives dared to mention.
Halima entered quietly, setting down a cup of tea.
"You haven't slept," she said softly.
Jamshed didn't answer. His eyes were locked on an old black-and-white photo — seven men standing beside a military transport.
At the center was Major Rehman, younger and in full uniform.
And just behind him… a blurred figure Jamshed could almost recognize.
---
The Shadow of the Past
Later that morning, Jamshed gathered the team in the briefing room.
Mehmood, Farooq, Farzana, Ahmed, Professor Dawood, and Major Rehman filled the table — each carrying the fatigue of too many sleepless nights.
On the screen behind Jamshed flickered the logo: S-13.
"Fourteen years ago," he began, "an operation named S-13 was launched. It was classified under the Defense Research Bureau. Its objective — to retrieve stolen data from within our own system. But what was stolen wasn't digital."
Farooq frowned. "Then what was it?"
Rehman sighed. "It was a formula — for a symbolic cipher that could predict behavioral outcomes. It was meant to stop terrorism before it began… but it got corrupted."
Dawood added, "And the project was shut down. Or so we believed."
---
The Missing Operatives
Mehmood opened his laptop. "I cross-referenced all team members from S-13. Five are dead, one is missing, and one… is unaccounted for."
Jamshed raised an eyebrow. "Unaccounted?"
"Yes," Mehmood replied. "Code name: Zain-47. The only one who handled encryption and psychological simulation data."
Dawood looked alarmed. "Zain was my student. Brilliant, unstable — obsessed with proving the mind could be controlled through symbols."
Farzana's voice was soft, uneasy: "You think he's the man in the mask?"
Rehman's jaw tightened. "If Zain survived the shutdown… he's not just alive. He's executing S-13's dark version."
---
The Trap
A sudden alert broke the tension — Ahmed's phone buzzed.
"Sir, a lead. There's movement in the old Signal Tower near Clifton. Drone footage shows someone leaving coded arrows on the rooftops."
Jamshed's decision was instant. "Team, move out."
They reached the tower by nightfall. The structure loomed against lightning, every flash carving it in white for a second.
Inside, the air smelled of burnt metal.
On the floor, arranged in geometric formation, were five arrows, each marked with a date — the dates of the five S-13 operatives who had died.
Farzana noticed something the others didn't — a faint chalk circle drawn beneath the arrows.
"Abbu… this isn't random. It's ritualistic."
Before anyone could respond, a hidden speaker crackled.
Zain's distorted voice filled the space:
> "The arrow flies not to kill, Inspector, but to deliver justice.
Every arrow I launch frees a trapped soul. You should thank me."
Jamshed looked up at the tower's rafters — too late.
A glint of silver shot down from above.
Ahmed shoved Farzana aside just as the arrow struck the wall, embedding itself inches from Jamshed's face.
A small note was tied to its shaft.
Farooq retrieved it, hands trembling:
> "Next target — Dawood."
---
The Fracture
Back at HQ, the tension cracked like glass.
Dawood sat silent, eyes vacant. "He's right," he whispered. "We created this monster. Every symbol we designed, he turned into a weapon."
Jamshed looked at him, voice steady: "Then we end it — together."
Outside, thunder rolled again.
And in a shadowed corner of the city, a figure watched the rain from behind a broken window, fingers tracing the design of a steel arrow.
> "Round two begins," he murmured.
---
End of Chapter 4 — "Operation S-13"
The conspiracy has begun to breathe again — and Jamshed now knows it's personal.