Page 249 of The Redemption
“CALL FOR BACKUP!” I bark.
One of my men immediately reaches for the satellite phone, but he never gets the chance to use it. A single shot cracks through the valley, and the bullet punches straight through his forehead. He collapses before the phone even leaves his hand.
My blood runs cold. No. This isn’t a fight. This is an execution. And somehow... we’re the targets.
The gunfire dies as suddenly as it began. One second, the valley is drowning in bullets. The next, there’s only terrifying silence. I slowly lift my head from behind the jeep. Bodies of our men are everywhere, scattered across the rocky terrain.
This wasn’t a firefight. This was a slaughter. My eyes immediately find Singhal still crouched behind the thick tree trunk. Alive, unhurt, and looking as confused as I am. Almost everyone else is dead except us. Then my gaze lands on the satellite phone lying beside one of the fallen men. I need backup. I move towards it quickly and reach down, but just as my fingers come within inches of the phone, I hear it. A click. The unmistakable sound of a weapon being cocked behind me.
Every muscle in my body freezes. My heartbeat pounds against my ribs as I slowly straighten and turn around. A gun is pointed directly at my head, and the man holding it looks eerily familiar. For one insane second, I think I’m looking at Raghav Khurana. Same height. Same build. Same commanding presence. But no. He’s not Raghav. There are subtle differences once I look more closely.
Nearly a dozen armed men stand behind him. And from the way they hold their positions, they don’t look like mafia or hired gunmen. They look like soldiers trained to work as one unit. I narrow my eyes.
“Who the f*ck are you people?”
“We’re GLEN. Your worst nightmare,” he replies without lowering his weapon.
GLEN. An organisation that needs no introduction. They have been hunting men like me for years, dismantling entire criminal networks across countries and wiping out entire mafia empires. And now they’re standing right in front of me, here, in Shivtara Valley.
I stare at him, and a faint smile appears on his face.
“I’m Ayaan Shergill,” he says calmly before adding, “And judging by that expression, you’ve already noticed the resemblance. I’m Raghav’s twin brother.”
My heartbeat stutters. No f*cking way. Raghav has a twin brother? And he’s with GLEN?
Now it all makes sense… the face, the eyes, the aura. Of course he looks so much like Raghav. They’re twins.
“How?” I grit out. “How the hell did you know we were coming here? No one knew about this operation. Nobody knew when we would attack or which routes we would take. We maintained radio silence. So how the f*ck did GLEN know?”
Ayaan actually chuckles. Then, he lowers the gun, pulls a cigarette from his pocket and lights it. He takes a slow drag as though we’re discussing the weather instead of standing in the middle of a massacre.
“That’s a long story.” Smoke curls from his lips as that infuriating smirk returns. “A story you’d probably enjoy hearing.”
I want to punch that smirk off his face. Instead, I wait. Because right now, I need answers more than I need revenge.
“But before that...” Ayaan glances at me again as he pulls out his phone. “I think my brother deserves some good news. That Parag Reddy and Hemant Singhal are exactly where he wants them.”
The moment he presses the button to make the call, the truth finally hits me. I realise that the war was already lost long before we even arrived.
CHAPTER 46
RAGHAV
RK Estate – Present
Samarjeet stares at me in disbelief as I tell him how Parag and Singhal are never coming here because GLEN had already intercepted them before they could reach the southern side of the valley. His breathing turns ragged as rage burns in his eyes.
“GLENstopped them?” he snaps. “How the f*ck are you connected to GLEN?”
“I’m not connected to GLEN.” A grin pulls at the corner of my mouth as I take a slow step towards him. “My twin brother, Ayaan, is.”
He just stares at me, too confused to react.
“Ayaan Shergill is the Director of GLEN.” I finally drop the bomb.
The shock that crosses his face is almost worth it. Nobody in the underworld knew that I had a twin brother or that he was the Director of the very organisation that had been dismantling mafia networks worldwide for decades. As he processes this information, I can almost see the pieces falling into place in his mind. Then his eyes narrow as another thought strikes him.
“So...” he says slowly. “Ayaan killed your father, Tej Khurana?”
