FlashBack - 28 hours before

INT. RAW FIELD NODE – UNDISCLOSED LOCATION – NIGHT

ON SCREEN: TIMER – ETA TO GENOA DOCK: 36:12:54

Lines trace across a satellite view of the Mediterranean. The ship's ID is scrambled. A single red route leads to Genoa. A second, less lit trail veers toward Ajaccio.

Mirage sits alone in a dim room. A secure laptop glows. He types in a string of encryption codes. Then: "Connecting to: WOLF – Secure Channel"

INT. REMOTE TECH HUB – INDIA

Multiple screens flicker. Lines of code scroll fast. WOLF appears, his voice clear through the line.

Mirage: "Package status?"

Wolf: "Still embedded. Cargo ETA: 36 hours. Genoa entry window still active."

Mirage: "Time to divert. Silent route switch. We can't risk detection."

Wolf: "Already running disinfo. Local port chatter picked up a false customs sweep. Should reach the right ears soon."

A pause.

Mirage: "Vortex?"

Wolf: "Performing. Engine delay staged an hour ago. No red flags."

Shivaang's jaw tightens.

Mirage: "It has to be Ajaccio. It's the safer devil."

INT. CARGO SHIP – BELOW DECK – SAME TIME

Dim red lights flicker. Turbulent waters.

Rashid: What do you think Yug?

Yug standing near the engine room, sleeves rolled, grease on his hands. A coolant leak hisses behind him.

Nearby, two smugglers argue. One pulls out a satellite phone, glancing toward the bridge.

Yug(low, sharp): "They're watching Genoa. Either we turn south now... or we float straight into a trap."

They hesitate.

Yug: "Your call. But I'm not going down with this crate."

INT. RAW FIELD NODE – MIRAGE'S ROOM – LATER

A green blip slowly shifts on the digital map.

Wolf(voice): "They're turning. South-southwest. Looks like Ajaccio."

Mirage: "Coast patrol notified?"

Wolf: "Tip-off lands in an hour. Anonymous source. They'll think they uncovered it themselves."

Shivaang exhales—calm, but distant.

Mirage: "Good. Let the police make noise. We stay shadows."

Wolf: "And the Package?"

Shivaang's silence is long.

Mirage: "He's not just cargo anymore. He's the detonator."

INT. CARGO SHIP – NIGHT – 34 HOURS TO DOCK

Metal creaks as the ship cuts through choppy waters. A storm brews in the distance. Below deck, the tension is palpable.

Crates marked "Machine Parts" line the floor, all false labels. Hidden beneath them were illegal arms and devices.

Yug (rough beard, worn eyes) leans against a crate, watching as Rashid, the local arms coordinator, argues with the First Mate.

Rashid (gritted teeth): "If they know about Genoa, we dump everything. We vanish. No trail."

First Mate: "Dumping is suicide. HQ will kill us before the police even get a whiff."

Yug (calmly interjects): "You're both wrong."

Silence.

Yug (steady, deliberate): "We don't run, we play offense. Shift to Ajaccio. Leak false intel through a ghost channel. Make the pigs think they caught us mid-diversion."

Rashid: "And end up in a trap?"

Yug steps forward, voice sharper now.

Yug: "No. We give them a trap. Decoy crates—non-lethal, fake intel. We make noise at Ajaccio. Meanwhile, a shadow boat carries the real load. Different route. Different manifest."

First Mate: "You talk like you've done this before."

Yug(dark smile): "Because I have." He tosses a flash drive onto the table.  "Coordinates. Customs gaps. Port shift patterns. All pre-planned."

They stare at the drive, stunned.

Rashid(finally): "Who the hell are you?"

Yug(cold, measured): "I'm the reason you'll still be breathing after this is over."

A long silence. Then Rashid nods once.

Rashid: "Get me two decoy crates and prep the dinghy. You, with me."

Yug(mockingly): "Yes, boss."

INT. SHIP'S SMALL COMM ROOM – LATER THAT NIGHT

Yug slips in silently, reroutes one comm wire, encrypts the leak, and sends a "decoy tip-off" to port authorities near Ajaccio, enough to spark police interest without exposing the true cargo.

One crate will be sacrificed. The rest vanish elsewhere. He wipes his trail clean, calm as a surgeon.

INT. SHIP DECK – EARLY MORNING

Wind sharp. Rainlight flickers in sea spray. Yug stands on the edge, lighting a cigarette.Behind him, Rashid's voice:

Rashid: "You've earned your place, bhai. Might be using your brain more after this."

Yug(without turning): "Use whatever you want. First lets make to Milan alive."

Rashid walks away. Yug flicks the cigarette overboard...

[PRESENT]

Ruhi stepped into the main building, her steps slower now that the hum of the car and Shivaang's steady presence were behind her. The air inside was cooler, scented faintly with fresh paint and old wood, like most institutional spaces. The man who had taken her suitcase was walking ahead briskly, but when she caught up to him near the reception desk, she spoke, a little hesitant.

"Excuse me... your name?"

He turned with a polite smile. "Sarthak Gupta. I'm handling internal coordination for new admits today."

There was something calm and efficient about the way he spoke, like he had done this a hundred times. Ruhi gave a soft nod and smiled back. "Thank you"

He gestured toward a side desk. "Document verification is there. Just show them your ID and offer letter. I'll get your room details sorted in the meantime."

Ruhi thanked him again and moved to the verification table. The process was surprisingly smooth, no long queues or lost papers. Within fifteen minutes, her documents were verified, a photograph was clicked for her ID, and she was handed a small envelope with her room keys and hostel booklet.

When she turned around, Sarthak was waiting with her suitcase beside him.

"Room number 305," he said, and together they walked toward the elevator. Neither spoke much during the ride, but it wasn't awkward, just the comfortable silence of two people finishing a task.

He handed over the suitcase handle and offered a final courteous nod. "If you need anything, the warden's number is on the back of your hostel booklet. Welcome to the institute."

"Thanks... again."

With that, Sarthak turned and walked away down the corridor, disappearing as efficiently as he had appeared.

Ruhi stood for a moment outside the room, key in hand, taking a slow breath. Her last few days had been a blur of unexpectedness. This was the first still moment she felt on her own, in a new country, at the threshold of something bigger than just a design course.

She turned the key and stepped in.

The room was spacious enough, three single beds with simple bedding, three wardrobes, and desks lined under the windows. The warm afternoon light filtered through sheer curtains, casting soft shadows across the floor.

Two girls were already inside, chatting by one of the beds. They turned as she entered.

The one closer to the door, with curly hair pulled into a bun and wide expressive eyes, smiled first. "Hi! You must be the third one. I'm Prisha. Prisha Advani"

The other, with shoulder-length dark hair and a more serious face that still managed to look kind, gave a small nod. "And I'm Aria Romano. You're Ruhi, right?"

Ruhi nodded, suddenly feeling a bit lighter. "Yes. Ruhi Verma."

"Finally you came! welcome!!" Prisha said cheerfully, already helping her with her bags.

And just like that, her new chapter began with two strangers who didn't feel like strangers for long.

"Thanks," Ruhi said, smiling back as she placed her suitcase at the foot of the bed.

"I hope you don't mind this one," Aria said, nodding toward Prisha with a mock-serious face. "She talks a lot."

"Guilty," Prisha grinned.

"I don't mind," Ruhi said softly, sitting beside them. 

She liked the room already, there was a scent of peppermint, probably from a diffuser somewhere. The sheets were clean, the walls had faint pastel tones, and the girls... they seemed easy to talk to.

"So, which course are you in?" Aria asked, folding her legs on her bed.

"Fashion Design," Ruhi replied. "Specialising in textile draping and surface development. You?"

"Luxury Fashion Management," Aria answered.

"And I'm doing Accessory Design," Prisha said. "Footwear, bags, you name it. Basically, the stuff no one notices until it makes or breaks an outfit."

Ruhi laughed lightly at that.

Prisha leaned in, her eyes wide with curiosity. "Where are you from?"

"Bihar," Ruhi said. "But I was in Mumbai for the last few years. My sister lives there."

"Oh, that's nice," Prisha said. "You got to live in India! It has such gorgeous fabrics. You must've seen all those local markets full of different designs, right?"

"Yes..." she replied with a smile. "India is so rich in culture and design. I'm really proud to be Indian. You know, every state has its own traditional fabrics, and I love them all. No matter how much people around the world try, they can never truly grasp the depth of our culture. That's what drives me to bring our heritage to the world stage."

Then she looked at them both and asked, "What about you guys? Where are you from?"

"I'm from India too," said Prisha, sitting cross-legged on her bed. "But my parents moved to Milan before I was born, so I've basically grown up here. But now I have finally met an Indian, you are going to teach me hindi okay? Please I know a little but not fluently..."

Ruhi chuckled at her cute puppy face, "Haan bhai, kyu nahi!"

Prisha laughed and Aria had question mark on her face.

It means "yes bro why not!" Ruhi translated for Aria.

"Oh! You guys...then teach me hindi too"

Ruhi and Prisha looked at each other and then laughed "you know it will sound so funny with your italian accent" said Prisha in between her laughs.

"Not funny but cute" said Ruhi "Don't worry Aria I'll teach you too, and btw where are you from?"

"I'm from Lake Como," Aria said with a casual shrug. "Small town, big reputation. But I prefer Milan - fewer tourists, more creative chaos."

"Lake Como?" Ruhi's eyebrows rose. "Isn't that the place where celebrities get married?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "Yes, and It's so much crowded now trust me, it's prettier in postcards only."

Ruhi smiled, genuinely this time, and for a moment, she felt the tightness in her chest ease. These girls strangers just hours ago, already felt like fragments of home in a new, unfamiliar world.

As the afternoon wore on, the room grew warmer with light chatter. They unpacked together, Prisha offering to show Ruhi the laundry room and common kitchen later, and then they went for exploring the campus café. It felt natural like slipping into a story she didn't know she'd be a part of.

But in the quiet moments in the pauses between sentences and while arranging her brushes on the desk, Ruhi found her mind drifting to that morning. To Shivaang. To the silence in the car and how it had wrapped around them both, heavy and unspoken.

"Ruhi?"

She blinked, pulled back to the present as Prisha waved a hand in front of her.

"Lost in thought?" Aria asked with a knowing smirk.

"Kind of," Ruhi said, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Just... adjusting, I guess."

"You'll be fine," Prisha said confidently. "This place is intense but magical. You'll see."

Ruhi nodded, trying to absorb it all, their warmth, the sunlit walls, the hum of the corridor outside. This was her life now. A new country, a new path.

"Did you get your class schedule?" Prisha asked.

"Yeah," Ruhi nodded. "I've already missed a week though. I just hope it's not too hard to catch up."

"Don't worry, my child," Prisha said, placing a hand on Ruhi's shoulder in mock seriousness. "You're in good hands."

The room burst into soft laughter.

After dropping Ruhi off, Shivaang didn't return home. Instead, he drove straight to an inconspicuous building tucked between a row of antique stores in the quieter part of Milan. It looked like a shuttered tailoring shop from the outside, but inside, it held the skeleton of a private operations base. Sparse, functional, and connected just how Shivaang liked it.

He keyed in the access code and entered the space, locking the heavy iron door behind him. There was a laptop already set up, encrypted and synced only to two locations - Milan and India.

He booted it up and logged into the secure network. A few seconds later, a familiar face appeared on the screen Wolf, seated in a dark room, multiple screens lighting up behind him. Even with the thousands of kilometers between them, Shivaang could sense the tension in his friend's shoulders.

"Connection stable?" Wolf asked without preamble.

"Crystal," Shivaang replied, pulling out a folded map and laying it flat on the table beside him.

Wolf leaned forward. "The container that was intercepted at Ajaccio had markings linked to Trussardi's offshore account activities. Someone from his side is pulling strings far beyond fashion exports."

Shivaang's jaw tightened. "That's not just laundering. That's logistics."

"Exactly," Wolf said. "He's funding and moving arms disguised as textile cargo. Most of the codes we decrypted came from Milan-based networks. Your end is now critical."

"I'll need clean access into Trussardi's warehouse permits. And I want eyes on whoever authorized that Ajaccio shipment from this side."

"Already working on it," Wolf said. "Also Package reached successfully, Operation – Package successful."

Shivaang nodded once. "If he sends the signal, I'll get him out. But until then, we dig deeper."

Wolf glanced sideways at something off-screen, distracted for a moment. "And Ruhi?"

Shivaang didn't answer right away. He simply leaned back in his chair, eyes unreadable.

"She's safe," he finally said. "Back to her Institute."

There was a pause on the line. Then Wolf gave a brief nod. "Talk soon."

The screen blinked off. Shivaang sat in the silence for a moment, the hum of machines around him the only noise.

He had buried the emotions from earlier that morning. Now, the mission was all that existed.

1 PM IST

Inside the secure Milan outpost, the lights dimmed as Shivaang initiated a level-five encrypted communication line. This wasn't the routine monthly update. This was high-level clearance meant only for top RAW command and essential government officials.

He placed his thumb on the biometric scanner embedded into a concealed panel. A soft beep confirmed his identity:

Code: MIRAGE – Clearance Granted

A moment later, the large screen lit up with the Indian emblem before fading into a secure video call. Three windows appeared, one showing a suited official from the Cabinet Secretariat, one from the Ministry of External Affairs [MEA], and the third, a sharply dressed man with a calm face: the Director of RAW.

"Mirage," the RAW Director greeted. "We've reviewed the Ajaccio interception. You were right. This isn't isolated."

"No, sir," Shivaang said, voice firm. "Trussardi isn't just laundering money. He's actively facilitating arms smuggling across European routes under textile trade cover. He's not the mastermind, but he's the gate."

"And the real mastermind?" the MEA official asked.

"Still in shadow. But the shipments connect to a defunct logistics firm now being revived under fake licenses, based in Naples. Someone powerful is hiding behind Trussardi's reputation."

"And your cover remains intact?" the Cabinet Secretary asked.

Shivaang nodded. "Completely. No exposure risk so far. I'm embedded deep into the business circles already. I'll move next through An event at Istituto Marangoni at the end of this month, where Trussardi will be present along with other names we have in our radar. It's the only event where key European financiers will appear off-guard."

The RAW Director narrowed his eyes. "And your asset network?"

"Wolf is coordinating tech and decrypting the network. Vortex is on board. Echo is with me for ground surveillance. I'll escalate only when we have a direct link between Trussardi and the backer."

The Cabinet Secretary leaned forward. "Mirage, you're aware this operation is now tied to global counter-terror intelligence. If we uncover even one thread connecting this ring to the East African cell, this turns diplomatic."

"I understand, sir," Shivaang said. "I won't make a move until I can give you names, accounts, and evidence."

There was a brief pause. Then the RAW Director said, "Do what you must. But be invisible."

"Always."

The screen went black.

Shivaang exhaled slowly, already reaching for the next file. A map of Naples flickered to life on the second screen. His mind, already calculating the next steps.

*****************************************************************************************

Hey guys!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if it felt intense or a little cryptic, that's because we're just laying the foundation for something much bigger. The real storm is still building.

So hang tight, stay curious, and thank you for being on this journey with me.
More twists, truths, and tangled fates coming soon! 💥
And please do vote and comment, It makes my day ;)

With love,
Reva ♡