“Return of the Memons: A Pyrrhic Victory” continues…

As per plan, Prabhu’s cavalcade moved towards the Dubai International Airport. There was no vehicle trailing them or even monitoring their movements then. The pursuers had presumed that eventually the Memons would come to the Dubai Airport, from where their departure to Delhi was booked, and where they would be dealt with suitably.

The cavalcade, at a pre-planned spot, took a detour and casually proceeded towards the Sharjah International Airport. Prabhu parked his car at a safe distance from the Air Terminal while his staffers helped Suresh, Suleman (Tiger’s brother), Rubina (Suleman’s wife), Essa (Tiger’s brother), Yusuf (Tiger’s brother), Abdul Razak (Tiger’s father) and Hanifa (Tiger’s mother), Master Ilyas (6 years) (Suleman’s son) and Aliya (9 months) (Suleman’s daughter) to check in at the Indian Airlines counter. When Suresh disclosed the PNR number, the Memons including Suresh were received and treated like special guests by the Indian Airlines staff. Things went off smoothly and they were now in the departure lounge waiting to board. Prabhu would not leave Sharjah Airport and kept a patient vigil sitting in his official car, while my heart kept thumping uncontrollably in Delhi. We were so near to success and yet not quite there.

It was well past midnight when I got a call from Prabhu that the flight had taken off and the Memons were on board. I started screaming with joy and couldn hardly hold back my emotions. I had the choicest expletives for the ISI goons on my lips. The feeling could perhaps be compared with what we Indians would feel on beating Pakistan, in an all-but-lost cricket match, on the last ball when our last batsman hits a six and gets us home. Imagine you are the batsman scoring the winning runs. That is how I felt. Perhaps it felt even more euphoric. I informed Satish and he was equally ecstatic. I asked him to be ready to come to the Airport with me in the next few hours.
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To be continued…