Cherreads

Chapter 73 - Episode 73: “Shadow Protocol”

---

Black Squad – Episode 73

Title: "Shadow Protocol"

(Conclusion of the Phantom arc — mystery, betrayal, and action)

---

[COLD OPEN – INT. BLACK SQUAD HQ – NIGHT]

Phantom (Viraj Rana) sits cuffed in the interrogation room. Bloodied but smirking. A constant audio buzz plays in the background — a subtle frequency jamming their recording devices.

IMRAN WANI stares at him from across the table.

IMRAN:

"Who is the publisher?"

PHANTOM:

"The one printing stories you don't want told. He's already inside."

Suddenly, Phantom starts convulsing — Reet rushes in. A capsule embedded in his molar triggered remotely.

PHANTOM (gasping):

"Too late."

He dies on the spot.

Cut to black.

---

ACT 1: THE INTERNAL MOLE

Imran suspects Phantom wasn't working alone. His access to secure data, especially the DRDO officer's movement from Episode 71, had to come from inside the system.

They pull all logs of military and intelligence access around the times of the past murders. Reet runs a cross-check with Phantom's external login patterns.

One name overlaps every time:

Col. Ashwin Rao — current Joint Secretary of Defence Cyber Command, formerly a close aide to Shamsher Singh.

---

ACT 2: THE TRUTH BLEEDS OUT

Reet finds that Ashwin Rao used a hidden protocol – "Shadow Access" – a backdoor into defense and civilian records, allowing Phantom to:

Identify whistleblowers

Monitor Black Squad's reactivation

Remotely kill (as seen with the molar capsule)

Arjun:

"So this bastard was Phantom's handler?"

Imran:

"No. He was the real Phantom. Rana was just the call."

The real Phantom… was a ghost in uniform.

---

ACT 3: INFILTRATION

They locate Rao at a private island villa off the Konkan coast, preparing to flee with forged documents and $20 million in crypto.

MOD refuses to send backup, fearing embarrassment. Imran makes a bold call:

"We're Black Squad. We don't need permission to finish what we started."

---

ACT 4: FINAL MISSION – THE RAID

Black Squad infiltrates by night.

Danish swims in via underwater stealth to disable perimeter alarms.

Reet hacks the island's solar grid, blacking out power for 7 minutes.

Arjun and Imran go in through the east wall — the most vulnerable access point.

Inside the villa, Ashwin Rao sits calmly, waiting with armed guards. He expected them.

ASHWIN RAO:

"You want justice. I made profit. One of us is a fool."

A violent shootout follows:

Danish snipes two guards from a tower.

Arjun goes hand-to-hand with Rao's bodyguard, barely surviving.

Reet remotely closes escape doors, locking Rao inside.

Imran confronts Rao directly.

Rao reaches for a gun — Imran doesn't hesitate.

IMRAN (shooting him):

"This story ends with your silence."

---

ACT 5: PEACE AFTER THE NOISE

Dawn. Mumbai.

News quietly reports Ashwin Rao's "suicide." The government buries the story to avoid international scandal.

Inside HQ, Imran, Arjun, Reet, and Danish sit together. No cheers. Just quiet.

REED:

"You think they'll ever know what we did?"

ARJUN:

"We know. And we're not done yet."

IMRAN (looking at Qazi and Shamsher's photo):

"We just closed a page. But the book's still wide open."

Final shot: A list on the screen — new encrypted names begin to appear under "Unfinished Business."

BLACK SCREEN:

"CASE CLOSED."

---

More Chapters