Chapter 3 – Shadows of the Past
The night refused to calm.
Arjun stood in the empty parking lot, staring at the road where Akanksha had disappeared. The flash of white light still burned in his memory. No ordinary civilian could move like that. No ordinary suspect could escape that cleanly.
"She's trained," he muttered.
Back at headquarters, her image appeared on multiple screens. CCTV clips. Metro footage. Apartment entry records. Everything about her identity looked perfect.
Too perfect.
"Sir, her documents check out," one officer said.
Arjun shook his head. "Dig deeper. No one is this clean."
Meanwhile, across the city, Akanksha sat inside an abandoned warehouse. Her breath was finally steady, but her thoughts were not.
She replayed the moment in the corridor.
His eyes.
They weren't cruel. They weren't arrogant. They were… honest.
That was dangerous.
Her communicator buzzed.
"You failed to maintain cover," a cold voice said.
"I completed Phase One," she replied firmly.
"You were seen."
"I handled it."
There was a pause.
"Remember why you are there. Emotions are weakness."
The line disconnected.
Akanksha closed her eyes.
Emotions are weakness.
That was the first rule they had taught her years ago — when she was just nineteen.
Her mind drifted back.
A border village. Gunfire in the distance. A young girl hiding behind broken walls. Fear. Loss. Anger.
That anger had shaped her.
That anger had trained her.
That anger had sent her here.
But tonight… something had shaken that foundation.
Back at his office, Arjun sat alone reviewing footage again. He zoomed into her face from the corridor camera.
There.
For half a second.
Fear.
Not fear of being caught.
Fear of something else.
"She didn't want to run," he whispered.
His phone rang.
"Sir, intelligence confirms foreign encryption patterns in the cyber breach."
So he was right.
She wasn't just suspicious.
She was a spy.
Arjun leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
He had captured enemies before. He had fought in operations near the border. He had lost friends in crossfire.
But this felt different.
Why did her voice echo in his mind?
"Someone who never had a choice."
Those words didn't sound like a villain.
They sounded like pain.
Across the city, Akanksha stood near a cracked window of the warehouse, watching the early morning sky turn pale blue.
She had one final mission left — transfer the complete data.
After that, she would leave India forever.
No attachments.
No memories.
No regrets.
Yet, for the first time since entering this country, she hesitated.
Because somewhere in Delhi, a soldier was searching for her.
And somewhere deep inside her heart —
She was not sure if she wanted to be found.